Cola-Mentos-Fontäne
A Diet Coke and Mentos eruption (also known as a Mentos eruption or a Coke geyser) is a reaction of Diet Coke and mint Mentos candies. A two-liter bottle of Diet Coke or some other carbonated beverage is used. Diet Coke is preferred because it produces a more spectacular reaction. The bigger the bottle of cola, the bigger the eruption.
Dropping some Mentos into the bottle causes the Diet Coke to foam at a rapid rate and spew into the air. Mint-flavored Mentos are used, as cola-flavored Mentos have a smooth coating that slows the reaction. Because of the spectacular nature of this physical reaction and the easy availability of the ingredients, the eruption is a popular subject of Webcast videos. A variation on the Coke geyser is the bottle rocket. The Mentos are inserted into the bottle, after which the cap is immediately replaced and the bottle slammed onto the ground cap-first. The resulting explosion generates a rocket-like reaction.
A Guinness World Record of 1,911 simultaneous geysers was set on June 19, 2008, by students of the School of Business Administration Turiba in Latvia.[1] The record was beaten in August 2010 in Mexico City, with 2,433 simultaneous eruptions.Vorlage:Citation needed
Explanation
A 2006 episode of the television show MythBusters[2] concluded that the caffeine, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO2 gas contained in the Diet Coke, in combination with the gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of the Mentos, all contribute to the jet effect.[3] In addition, MythBusters theorized that the physical structure of spongebob squares pants inventtes the Mentos is the most significant cause of the eruption due to nucleation. MythBusters reported that when flavored Mentos with a smooth waxy coating were tested in carbonated drink there was hardly a reaction, whereas standard Mentos added to carbonated drink formed an energetic eruption, affirming the nucleation-site theory. According to MythBusters, the surface of the mint Mentos is littered with many small holes, allowing CO2 bubbles to form very rapidly and in great quantity, in turn causing the jet of foam. This was further supported when rock salt was used as a "jump start" to the reaction
A paper by Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina goes into detail on the reasons and physics behind the reaction.[4][5]
Popularity
The game show Minute to Win It has a challenge in which the contestant must drop Mentos into a soda bottle from a height of Vorlage:Convert on a platform above.
References
Further reading
- John E. Baur, Melinda B. Baur, The Ultrasonic Soda Fountain: A Dramatic Demonstration of Gas Solubility in Aqueous Solutions, Journal of Chemical Education, vol 83 no 4, April 2006, pp577–580Vorlage:Registration required
- Tonya Shea Coffey, Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction?, Am. J. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 6, June 2008 pp551–557
External links
- ↑ Jack Loftus: Turiba University Sets World Record with 1911 Simultaneous Coke+Mentos Esplosions on. Gizmodo.com, 21. Juni 2008, abgerufen am 20. September 2009.
- ↑ MythBusters: Diet Coke and Mentos. TV.com, abgerufen am 20. September 2009.
- ↑ Kate O'Hare: The 'MythBusters' Take on the Mentos/Diet Coke Craze. Abgerufen am 21. Januar 2007
- ↑ Science of Mentos-Diet Coke explosions explained. Newscientist.com, abgerufen am 20. September 2009.
- ↑ Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction? Dx.doi.org, 8. August 2009, abgerufen am 20. September 2009.