coke and glue experiment

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The Infamous Coke and Mentos Experiment

September 11, 2014 By Emma Vanstone 1 Comment

The science experiments my children talk about for months afterwards are generally the messy ones, like our splatter patterns , glow in the dark oobleck ,  baking soda experiments and the well known coke and mento experiment .

If you try this classic chemis t ry experiment definitely do it outside as it’s VERY messy and sticky. Sometimes you’ll see it called a coke and mento geyse r, as the eruption looks like a geyser!

Coke and Mentos Experiment

You’ll need:.

Coke or other fizzy soda

Instructions

We dropped two Mentos into a bottle of normal Cola and Diet Cola. I used the cheapest brands available in our local supermarket.

Once you drop the Mentos into the coke, stand back as it’s VERY explosive. The trick is to drop the mento in as fast as you can. If too much of the fizz escapes before you add the mento the reaction won’t be as good.

What happens when Coke and Mentos mix?

There are several theories, but it’s thought that the many small pores on the surface of the mento speed up the release of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gas from the soda as they give a larger surface area for the reaction to occur over, causing foam to erupt at a super fast rate.

Which soda works best with Mentos?

Any fizzy drink will produce a similar effect, but diet drinks seem to work best, as we found in our investigation. This is most likely due to the particular chemicals in diet drinks.

The reaction isn’t a chemical reaction but a physical reaction! The molecules haven’t been chemically changed, just re-arranged!

See Steve Spangler for a much more thorough explanation of this very cool experiment .

Does the number of mentos affect the height?

More Mentos candies should mean a better explosion, but there is a limit to how many will actually make a difference. We found 7 to be the maximum number we could drop in at once.

More Coke and Mentos Eruption Ideas

Investigate to find out if the type of fizzy drink matters. Does diet soda make a taller geyser?

Try lots of different sodas and diet sodas.

Test fruit-flavoured Mentos instead of mint flavoured.

Find out if the number of mentos affects the height of the geyser.

Investigate to discover what would happen if you left the top off the Cola for a few minutes before adding the Mento.

Use the reaction to power something? Maybe a LEGO car?

Design a device to drop several mentos into the bottle at the same time. Can you find out what the optimum number of mentos for a 2-litre bottle of soda is?

Last Updated on April 9, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

December 17, 2019 at 7:20 pm

It will also work better the warmer the soda is

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Chemistry is great for making many useful products. It’s also good for making stuff that’s just fun to play with. Let’s make some slime!

1. Place 1 tablespoon of water in a small plastic cup. Add ¼ teaspoon of borax.   Mix until as much borax dissolves as possible. This is your borax solution. If you would like your slime to be a certain color, add one or two drops of food coloring to your borax solution. 

2. Place 1 tablespoon of water in another cup and add 1 tablespoon of Elmer's glue. Stir with a popsicle stick until the glue and water are thoroughly mixed. This is your glue solution .

3. Slowly pour all of the borax solution into the glue solution, and stir with a clean popsicle stick. You should notice a sudden change in the solutions. 

Your slime is done when you can pick up your popsicle stick and most of the slime comes out on the stick.

4. When you have some nice thick slime, pull it off the popsicle stick and move it back and forth between your hands. The more you play, the less sticky it gets. 

5. Try pulling the slime very slowly to see if it stretches.

6. Form the slime into a ball and see if it bounces. You could put it over the bottom of an upside down cup and watch it slowly flow down.

7. Try flattening your slime into a pancake and then holding it from one edge to see what it does. 

 What to expect

As you stir the borax and glue solutions together, the mixture becomes thick. It also attaches to the popsicle stick. When you pull slowly, your slime will stretch. However if you pull quickly it will break. Slime will slowly flow making it seem like a liquid, but it can also bounce which makes it seem a bit like a solid. 

What’s happening in there?

What makes slime so thick and stretchy?  

The glue has long flexible molecules in it called polymers. These polymer molecules slide past each other as a liquid.

Borax in water forms an ion called the borate ion. When the borax solution is added to the glue solution, the borate ions help link the long polymer molecules to each other so they cannot move and flow as easily.

When enough polymer molecules get hooked together in the right way, the glue solution changes from being very liquidy to a rubbery kind of stuff that we call slime!

What else could you try?

Water is an important ingredient in slime. Water helps the polymer molecules slide past each other so that your slime can flow. If you let the water evaporate, your slime will end up like a solid piece of plastic.

Try making other samples of slime with different amounts of water and compare them to your first piece of slime. In each sample, follow the instructions to make the slime that you followed before, but change the amount of water you add to make the glue solution.

• Do not add water to the glue. Use only 1 tablespoon of glue to make the glue solution.
• Add two tablespoons of water to 1 tablespoon of glue to make the glue solution.

You may choose to give each sample of slime a different color to help you tell them apart.

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• Model Rockets

How to Make a Diet Coke and Mentos Rocket

Last Updated: May 18, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Jessie Antonellis-John . Jessie Antonellis-John is a Math and Science Instructor who teaches at Southwestern Oregon Community College. With over 10 years of experience, she specializes in curriculum development. Jessie earned her PhD in Teaching & Teacher Education from the University of Arizona, her Master of Education from Western Governors University, and her BS in Astrophysics from Mount Holyoke College. She’s also co-authored several peer-reviewed journal articles in professional publications. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article has 11 testimonials from our readers, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 577,119 times.

Dropping Mentos into a bottle of diet soda causes a physical reaction: as they fall through the soda, the Mentos candies break the bonds between the carbon dioxide and water (the combination that makes soda fizzy), releasing the carbon dioxide gas up and out of the bottle. [1] X Research source By closing the lid or lightly pushing a cork into the neck after adding Mentos to a bottle of diet soda, you trap that gas, creating pressure. When the bottle falls hard against the ground, the cap flies off and the pressure releases, launching the bottle up into the air.

Making the Mentos Cartridge

• You can use any type of Coke for this project (Diet, Original, Zero, etc.).
• Be careful not to press too hard, as you don't want any Mentos falling out of the cartridge!

Jessie Antonellis-John

Use old film canisters for the Diet Coke and Mentos explosion. The smaller opening builds up more pressure for a bigger blast off! It's an awesome way to show Newton's third law in action, as the built-up gas pressure can rocket the canister high.

Loading and Launching the Rocket

• If it seems like the Mentos will touch the Diet Coke, you can either dump a small amount of Diet Coke out before screwing the cap on; redo your Mentos cartridge to contain fewer Mentos; or you can try your luck and screw the cap on as quickly as possible.
• A popular and effective one is to throw the bottle high up into the air and let it fall on to the ground (preferably hard ground, like cement). This is the best method if you're worried about getting hit by the rocket, as you can throw it far away from you and even run in the opposite direction.
• Another method is to throw the bottle at a side angle so that when it hits the ground, the ground knocks off its cap.
• Yet another method is to throw the bottle at more of a 90-degree angle, cap-first, on to the ground.
• Side-angle launches generally seem to cause the bottle to bounce low and skid along the ground.
• Vertical launches (in which you throw the bottle straight up into the air and let it fall to the ground) tend to give the rocket more height as it shoots upward.
• If the bottle is still full of Diet Coke and Mentos but it's stopped moving on the ground, you can try to launch it again to see if it has any more flight left in it.

Having Fun With It

• As with the original rocket recipe, stick the Mentos cartridge to the lid of the milk jug, fasten the lid, shake the container to release the Mentos into the Diet Coke, then throw the jug high up into the air and let it hit the pavement hard.

Preparing Your Materials

• Warm soda causes better explosions, so avoid using cold/refrigerated soda. For best results, purchase room-temperature soda and then let it sit outside in the sun or in a pot full of hot (not boiling) water for a few hours before using it.

• As the rocket is more of a fast-acting affair, you might want to go for Mint Mentos.
• If you have the time and money to do so, why not try one bottle with Mint Mentos and one with Fruit Mentos, and then compare the results?

• If there's a field or empty lot nearby, go there to make your rocket. You don't want to risk doing damage to anyone's car or home, as it could cost you or your parents a lot of money to repair.

Expert Q&A

• Avoid the temptation to chop the Mentos up. Adding chopped Mentos to Diet Coke will still cause an explosion, but it won't be as big or intense as the one caused by regular, whole Mentos. This is because the explosion depends on the wide surface area and density of the Mentos; cutting them up diminishes both their surface area and density. [2] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1
• Rock salt and regular kitchen sugar will also react with Diet Coke to cause an explosion, but it will be much less effective than the one caused by Mentos. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 1
• Adding Mentos to regular Coke or other regular sodas will also cause an explosion, but diet soda seems to be the best. Scientists believe that this is because the aspartame contained in diet soda makes bubble formation easier. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1

• Keep away from the rocket. It may be moving quite fast, and could cause some real damage. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Wear eye protection. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Do this in a parking lot or somewhere without houses, cars etc. in the way; windows are expensive to repair. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 3

Things You'll Need

• Two-liter bottle of Diet Coke (or other diet soda)
• Safety goggles
• Masking tape

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about science, check out our in-depth interview with Jessie Antonellis-John .

• ↑ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-coke-mentos/

About This Article

To make a Diet Coke and Mentos rocket, start by sandwiching 5 stacked Mentos between 2 4-inch strips of masking tape. Then, wrap a 3-inch strip of tape sticky-side out around your finger to make a piece of double-sided tape. Stick one side to the top of your Mentos stack and the other to the inside of a diet soda cap. You can use any 2-liter diet soda, as long as it contains aspartame. Once you’ve attached your Mentos to the soda cap, wrap another strip of tape around the bottom to make sure the Mentos don’t fall apart. After you’ve finished taping the Mentos, head to a wide-open space like a field or empty parking lot, since the bottle will probably bounce around a lot and make a mess. Twist the cap onto the bottle, give it a big shake, and throw the bottle into the air. For more tips, including how to make a bigger Coke and Mentos explosion, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Mentos and Coke Experiment: How-To Plus Free Worksheet

This explosive experiment teaches kids about physical reactions.

Adding Mentos candy to Coke is the stuff of legend. Every kid has heard the rumors about the explosive combination that results, but how many have actually tried it? While science teachers have been performing this experiment for years, it was first popularized in September of 2005 thanks to a viral video from Steve Spangler Science . The several-foot-high geyser that shoots from the soda bottle is a fun and awe-inspiring hands-on activity that any scientist in the making can perform. Be forewarned though: You’ll probably want to perform this experiment outside.

Read on to learn more about the Mentos and Coke experiment, and fill out the form on this page to grab your free recording sheet for the experiment.

How does the Mentos and Coke experiment work?

In this experiment, you drop Mentos mints into a 2-liter bottle of Coke. Make sure your bottle of soda is on a flat surface in a location where it is OK to make a mess. You then load the Mentos into your paper roll or geyser tube . Once the Mentos are dropped into the soda, they sink to the bottom, which causes the gas to expand and pushes the soda out of the bottle. This creates an exploding geyser effect.

What does the Mentos and Coke experiment teach?

Although you can’t see it, dissolved carbon dioxide is the invisible substance that makes soda bubbly and fizzy. As long as the soda remains in the bottle, the gas is kept in place through the pressurized conditions. When you shake a bottle of soda, some of that gas is released and the bubbles stick to nucleation sites or tiny defects on the inside of the container. If you open the shaken bottle, the bubbles will rapidly rise and push the liquid up and out of the bottle.

Aside from shaking the soda, another way to help the carbon dioxide escape is to drop an object into the bottle. Mentos are the perfect objects, since each candy has many little pits on its surface that serve as nucleation sites. Once the Mentos are dropped into the soda, the bubbles stick to those sites and quickly rise to the surface. The weight of the Mentos drives them to the bottom of the bottle. Then, the gas that is released by the Mentos forces the soda to shoot out of the bottle in a powerful geyser.

Is there a Mentos and Coke video?

This video shows how to do the Mentos and Coke experiment using just a few simple ingredients and supplies.

Materials Needed

To do the Mentos and Coke experiment, you will need:

• A roll or box of mint-flavored Mentos
• 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola (aka Coke)
• Sheet of paper to roll into a tube OR pre-made geyser tube

Our free recording sheet is also helpful—fill out the form on this page to get it.

Mentos and Coke Experiment Steps

1. make a paper tube by taking a piece of paper and wrapping it around a roll of mentos, then taping it in place. pull the mentos out. alternatively, you can use a premade geyser tube available from amazon or other retailers..

2. If using a geyser tube, load the Mentos. If using a homemade paper roll, drop the Mentos into the roll while holding the bottom closed with your finger.

3. Placing a 2-liter bottle of Coke on a flat surface, remove the cap, and drop the Mentos into the open Coke bottle.

Grab our free Mentos and Coke experiment worksheet!

Fill out the form on this page to get your worksheet. The worksheet asks kids to guess the correct order of the steps in the experiment. Next, kids must make a prediction about what they think will happen. They can use the provided spaces to draw what happens before and after they add the Mentos. Did their predictions come true?

Additional Reflection Questions

• What happened when we added the Mentos to the Coke?
• What difference do you think the temperature of the Coke makes?
• What do you think would happen if we used different-flavored Mentos, like fruit?
• What do you think would happen if we used a different soda other than Coke?
• What do you think would happen if you use Diet Coke?

Can the Mentos and Coke experiment be used for a science fair?

Yes! If you want to do the Mentos and Coke experiment for a science fair, we recommend switching up some of the variables. For example: Does the temperature of the Coke matter? Does the brand of soda matter? Will generic soda produce the same results as the brand-name soda? What happens if you use fruit-flavored Mentos? What happens if you use Diet Coke instead of regular? Form a hypothesis about how changing the variables will impact the experiment. Good luck!

Looking for more experiment ideas? Check out our  big list of experiment ideas here.

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5 coolest experiments involving Coca-Cola

How to perform cool experiments with cola at home

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Don’t drink the Coca-Cola used in any ex­per­i­ments! Ob­serve safe­ty pre­cau­tions when work­ing with heat­ing de­vices.

Reagents and equip­ment

• bleach (15% so­lu­tion sodi­um hypochlo­rite);
• a rusty tool;
• fry­ing pans;

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Diet Coke and Men­tos erup­tion

Toss a Men­to into a bot­tle of Diet Coke. Ob­serve the re­lease of gas and for­ma­tion of a spout of foam .

Coca-Cola and milk

Pour 50 mL Coca-Cola into 30 mL milk . Ob­serve as the milk cur­dles and the so­lu­tion pales.

Coca-Cola and rust

Let a rusty tool sit in 150 mL Coca-Cola for 5 hours. Re­move it from the so­lu­tion, wipe it off with a pa­per tow­el, and pay at­ten­tion to the dis­ap­pear­ance of the rust.

Cola and bleach

Add 20 mL bleach (15% so­lu­tion sodi­um hypochlo­rite) to 50 mL Coca-Cola. Ob­serve as the mix­ture pales.

How much sug­ar does Cola con­tain?

Pour 200 mL of clas­sic Coca-Cola onto a fry­ing pan. Heat un­til all the liq­uid evap­o­rates. Re­peat the ex­per­i­ment in a sec­ond fry­ing pan us­ing Diet Coke. No­tice the large quan­ti­ty of black tar from the clas­sic Coca-Cola.

Process de­scrip­tion

• Men­tos have a rough sur­face, which aids the for­ma­tion of a large amount of car­bon diox­ide gas from the Coca-Cola on its sur­face. Food ad­di­tives in the Cola and Men­tos con­trib­ute to the for­ma­tion of a large quan­ti­ty of foam.
• Milk con­sists main­ly of pro­teins, fats, mi­croele­ments, and wa­ter. When Coca-Cola is added, the phos­phor­ic acid it con­tains forces the milk to cur­dle. Mean­while, the form­ing clots of pro­teins drag col­or­ing mol­e­cules with them, caus­ing the mix­ture to pale.
• Rust con­sists most­ly of iron(III) ox­ide, and de­vel­ops on iron ob­jects due to hu­mid air or house­hold chem­i­cals. But it’s no prob­lem for clas­sic Coca-Cola! A rusty tool left in Coca-Cola will be thor­ough­ly cleaned from the unattrac­tive tar­nish. This hap­pens thanks to the phos­phor­ic acid in Coca-Cola, which dis­solves the iron(III) ox­ide. 2H₃PO₄ + Fe₂O₃ = 2Fe­PO₄ + 3H₂O
• Bleach con­tains sodi­um hypochlo­rite, which is a strong ox­i­diz­ing agent and eas­i­ly ox­i­dizes the col­or­ing mol­e­cules in the Coca-Cola, caus­ing it to pale.
• The main in­gre­di­ents of clas­sic Cola are sug­ar and wa­ter. As the wa­ter evap­o­rates, the mix­ture thick­ens and forms a black mass re­sem­bling tar, which main­ly con­sists of caramelized sug­ar. Diet Coke con­tains sug­ar sub­sti­tutes in­stead of reg­u­lar sug­ar. These sub­sti­tutes are much sweet­er than sug­ar – even be­ing added in tiny amounts, they make the drink ev­ery bit as sweet as the clas­sic ver­sion. As a re­sult, we see a much small­er amount of residue than in clas­sic Cola.

Dozens of experiments you can do at home

One of the most exciting and ambitious home-chemistry educational projects The Royal Society of Chemistry

Coke and Mentos Experiment – Easy STEM for Kids

Categories Science , STEM

The Coke and Mentos Experiment is an easy science experiment to do with kids of all ages. Even toddlers and preschoolers will shriek with delight as they watch this chemical reaction take place.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times.

Table of Contents

• More STEM activities to try
• Materials needed
• Watch the video

Instructions

• Experiment ideas
• How does it work?

STEM Activities for Kids

Help your toddlers and preschoolers become the next new scientist or engineer with these fun STEM activities. These are great for getting little learners involved in STEM through hands-on play.

• How to Make A Pom Pom Shooter
• Floating City – STEM activity for Kids
• Building Shapes – STEM for Kids
• Magnet Exploration

For more ideas check out 34 STEM Experiments for Toddlers .

Materials Needed

• A large bottle of coke
• A packet of mentos
• A plastic tub
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks (optional)

Watch the Video

Coke and Mentos Experiment Instructions

1: use the hot glue gun to glue 6 mentos together..

You can always use more or less mentos if you need to, the number of mentos will depend on how large your bottle of coke is. 

Gluing the mentos together is an optional step, but one that I find invaluable when doing this experiment with toddlers and preschoolers. Because the reaction happens instantly, it’s hard to drop all of the mentos in before the coke starts to come out of the bottle.

By creating a mentos tower, the kids can drop all of the mentos in at once.

2. Place your bottle of coke in a large tub. 

Once again the tub is optional and is only used to help clean up afterwards. If you prefer, you can do this experiment outside on the grass. Just make sure that your outdoor area has a flat surface you can use. If the bottle of soda falls over before you’ve dropped in the mentos candy, you’re going to be disappointed.

3. Drop your mentos tower into the bottle of coke, stand back and enjoy.

Different Ways to turn this into an Experiment

If you are doing this experiment with older children, you can use the scientific method to see which conditions affect the height of the geyser.

Idea 1. Change the Temperature.

Does cold, room temperature, or warm soda affect the amazing eruption? Place a bottle in the fridge, one in the sun and one at room temperature to find out if any of these temperatures create a large eruption.

Idea 2. How many mentos are needed in a coke and mentos experiment?

You’ll need at least 7 – 8 mentos for this activity. However you can always experiment with a different number of mentos to find out. Set up several soda bottles and then place a different number of mentos in each bottle and measure the fountain height to see which worked best.

Idea 3. Which soda works best with mentos?

You can use any type of soda pop you like for this experiment. While it’s believed that Diet Coke has the most impressive results, the truth is that there isn’t much difference in the height of the eruption between diet and regular soda.

The main difference is when cleaning up. Regular coke becomes sticky because of the high sugar content. While diet soda instead contains artificial sweeteners. Cleaning up the mess is another reason why outdoors is the perfect place to do this soda experiment.

However, you can always experiment with different types of soda and see what happens. Mountain dew, classic diet coke, orange soda are all options you can try.

How does the coke and mentos experiment work? Coke and Mentos Explained

Coke, and other carbonated beverages are filled with dissolved carbon dioxide gas. This gas has formed bonds with the water in the soda. 

In order for the mentos reaction to take place, the gas needs to break the bonds with the water and interact with the rest of the carbon dioxide gas in the coke. When carbon dioxide interacts with itself it forms gas bubbles. That is why we can see bubbles form when we pour a glass of coke to drink or shake the bottle up.

When you drop a tower of mentos into the bottle, they break the bonds that hold the carbon dioxide gas and water together. Because the mentos tower sinks to the bottom of the bottle, instead of floating, this means that the whole bottle will undergo this reaction at once.

These bubbles come rushing out at great speed and because the coke bottle has a small opening, the bubbles rush high into the air. Creating an eruption effect.

While toddlers and preschoolers aren’t going to understand why this chemical reaction takes place, it’s still cool to learn as an adult. I love Steve Spangler’s explanation of the chemistry involved in this STEM idea.

Are you going to try the Coke and Mentos Experiment with your kids? Don’t forget to Pin the idea for later.

Coke and Mentos Experiment

The  Coke and Mentos Experiment  is an easy science experiment to do with kids of all ages. Even toddlers and preschoolers will shriek with delight as they watch this chemical reaction take place.

• Use the hot glue gun to glue 7 - 8 mentos together. This is optional, it just helps to add all of the mentos into the bottle at the same time.
• Place your bottle of coke in a large tub. This is optional, it just makes cleaning up more easy.
• Drop your mentos tower into the bottle.
• Stand back and enjoy.

If you are doing this STEM activity with older kids, you can experiment with a few different ideas to introduce them to the scientific method.

• Change the temperature of the coke. Experiment to see if cold, warm or room temperature coke changes the reaction.
• Change the number of mentos.
• Experiment to see which soda works best. Coke, diet coke or any other kind of soda. Which one has the best results?

More Play Based Learning for Kids

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Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption

Love fizzing and exploding science experiments ? YES!! Well, here’s another one the kids are sure to love! All you need is a pack of Mentos candy and Diet Coke. You might think there’s a chemical reaction happening, but this Mentos and soda experiment is a great example of a physical reaction.

Mentos and Diet Coke Eruption

Is the reaction between Coke and Mentos a chemical reaction? With all the fizzing and foaming, it looks like there must be a chemical reaction between the Mentos and diet Coke, like our elephant toothpaste or baking soda and vinegar volcano .

However, you might be surprised that this experiment is an example of a physical change . Read on to find out why Mentos makes Coke explode if there is no Mentos and Coke chemical reaction.

• 2 liter Diet Coke
• Mentos candy
• Index cards

Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment Instructions

STEP 1: Roll up an index card into a tube and tape it together. The tube needs to be large enough to hold the Mentos and still allow them to fall out easily.

STEP 2: Tape the tube to the top of your bottle, but only tape on one side. An index card needs to be able to fit underneath the tube from one side.

STEP 3: Place the other index card under your tube and attach your string to it with tape.

STEP 4: Drop the Mentos into the tube.

STEP 5: Now back away with the string in hand. Pull the string, which will also pull out the index card, allowing the candy to fall in.

💡 NOTE: If you can, set up a measuring tape in the background to help record the height of the eruption. Or place a piece of tape at a certain height on a wall or garage door to get an approximate idea of the height of your eruptions!

If you’re recording the eruption, use the slow mode function to capture the peak height more easily. You’ll be able to pause and check out the fountain height.

Watch the excitement from a safe, and clean distance!

Coke and Mentos Science

Inside the Coke or soda is dissolved carbon dioxide gas, which forms a bond with the water, making the soda taste fizzy when you drink it. This is called a carbonated beverage. Usually, you can find these gas bubbles coming from the soda, creating a bit of foam in a glass.

However, much of the gas is trapped on the surface of the soda, waiting to get out! It is held there by a scientific concept called surface tension . Once the mentos are added, the gas bonds break down more quickly due to the candy’s rough surface.

Adding Mentos speeds up this process because more bubbles form on the Mentos’s surface than on the bottle’s side, pushing the liquid up. This is an example of a change in the state of matter ; the carbon dioxide dissolved in Diet Coke moves to a gaseous state.

💡Did you know you can try this experiment with other candies and even pennies? That’s because it’s a physical change instead of a chemical one! Go ahead and experiment!

How to Apply the Scientific Method

Mentos candy are relatively dense and sink quickly, causing a powerful, fast eruption; EYE PROTECTION is recommended if you are standing close!

You can extend this Mentos and coke experiment below with additional suggestions. Older kiddos will benefit from learning about and incorporating the scientific method !

If you want to set up an experiment with several trials, pick one thing to change, such as the type of soda! Don’t change everything! You need to change the independent variable and measure the dependent variable .

You can also get kids started by writing down their hypotheses before diving into the experiment. What do they think will happen when the Mentos is added?

After performing the experiment, kids can conclude what happened and how it matched their initial hypotheses. You can always change a hypothesis upon testing your theory!

Expand the Experiment

What about crushed Mentos? Change the size of the Mentos by breaking them into small pieces to test whether that changes the amount of foam produced.

What about soda flavors? Compare different types of soda while adding the same amount of Mentos to each. Which produces the most foam, diet coke or original coke? How about Orange, Root Beer, or Sprite? Does club soda or seltzer erupt?

What about temperature? Does ice-cold Diet Coke work better than room-temperature Diet Coke?

What about mint flavors? Do Mentos mints or Fruit Mentos work better?

What about alternative items? What can you try instead of Mentos candy? Will it produce the same results or a similar height of eruptions? Other options could include pennies, rock salt, or different size candy!

Mentos and Coke Science Fair Experiment

Science projects are an excellent tool for older kids to show what they know about science. They can also be used in various environments, including classrooms, homeschools, and groups.

Kids can take everything they have learned about using the scientific method , stating a hypothesis, creating variables , and analyzing and presenting data.

Want to turn this Diet Coke and Mentos rocket into a cool science project? Check out these helpful resources below.

• Easy Science Fair Projects
• Science Project Tips From A Teacher
• Science Fair Board Ideas
• Scientific Method Explained

More Fun Science Projects to Try

• Skittles Experiment
• Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano
• Lava Lamp Experiment
• Growing Borax Crystals
• Pop Rocks and Soda
• Magic Milk Experiment
• Egg In Vinegar Experiment
• science experiments for kids

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Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

• Pinterest 19

Have you seen the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment that’s all over YouTube and social media? My son saw a video and has been eager to try it, so we finally did a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures and tips from our little eruption experiment so you can try it, too!

Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption

My son saw one of his favorite YouTubers doing this experiment a while back, and he’s been asking to try it ever since. When I finally got my brain together enough to add both ingredients to my shopping list, he was over-the-moon excited to see it when he got home from school.

Unfortunately, my store only carried the 12-ounce bottles of diet coke rather than the larger 16 ounce bottles. I suppose a 2-liter would have been better, but I thought the 12-ounce bottles would be better for smaller hands. We had a lovely little tiny eruption, but if you want a huge geyser, you definitely need a larger bottle of soda AND the ability to drop the Mentos candies in much quicker than my son did.

Even though we didn’t have a big geyser, he loved the experiment. We repeated it five times, and he kept sticking his hands over the bottle each time. This is just fine with the 12-ounce bottles, but you may need to use caution if you’re using the larger bottles and lots of mentos.

For the small bottles that we used, you’ll only need 1-2 Mentos tablets.

If you plan to try this experiment with your own kids, safety goggles are recommended. I had already tried it myself before my son got home, so I knew what size of an eruption to expect.

Here’s what we learned about the experiment:

• The reaction is a physical rather than chemical reaction . Dropping the Mentos into the soda breaks the carbon dioxide’s bond with water, allowing the CO2 to react with itself, causing the foam to escape.
• The speed at which you can drop the Mentos into the soda affects the size of the eruption.
• Use more Mentos for a bigger geyser. If you can drop a few in very quickly , your eruption will be larger than one with a single candy.
• Use bottles of various sizes to see different sizes of geysers.
• You don’t have to use Diet Coke! Any soda will do.

Do you plan to try the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment? We’d love to see your pictures or videos if you do!

For more kid-friendly science experiments, check out these posts:

35 Valentine Science Activities Kids Will Love

28 St. Patrick’s Day Science Activities

I'm Donella, the voice, heart, and wit (sometimes) behind this blog. I homeschool my pre-teen son by day and moonlight as a blogger and freelance writer. I'm a Diet Pepsi aficionado with a bookshelf that's always overflowing. My two dogs—a German Shepherd and a Beagle—are my fluffy shadows. I love planning in my bullet journal almost as much as I love hoarding notebooks and pens. I may be an introvert who missed her calling as a desert hermit, but that just gives me more time to write, right?

5 CRAZY COCA COLA EXPERIMENTS

Introduction: 5 CRAZY COCA COLA EXPERIMENTS

Awesome experiments with the number one soda in the world!

Step 1: The Effect Coke Has on Your Teeth

In theory an egg shell works similar to the enamel found on your teeth. Grab a can of Coke, an empty jar, and one delicate egg. Place the egg within the jar and pour the coke over the egg. Store the jar in a safe place for one day. Once twenty four hours have passed, open the jar and pour the soda into a bowl slowly, leaving the egg in the jar. Gently remove the egg from the jar and examine what the soda has done to the shell. Remember the egg represents the enamel on your teeth!

Step 2: Coke & Bleach

In this experiment use a 16.9 oz bottle of coke. Open the bottle and fill it to the top with bleach. Note: Label the bottle or store it in a place no one will drink it! Seriously DO NOT DRINK IT! The process is slow but again wait for twenty four hours to pass and come back to a surprise!

Step 3: Cleaning Pennies

Grab five old pennies before the year 1982, and one current penny. Fill five glasses with the following - bleach / rubbing alcohol / vinegar / lime juice / coke. Place one penny in each glass. After one day remove each penny and see which one comes close to matching the shiny current penny. Coke is the winner!

Step 4: How Much Sugar Is in a Can of Coke?

This is a messy experiment after all is done, so if you can, grab a pot that has one handle out the door. Pour a can of Coke into the pot and turn the burner on to bring the contents to a boil. All the water will evaporate leaving only the sugar content behind. Use a spoon to collect the sugar since it will be too hot for your hand to touch. Average intact of sugar for a day is 24g - 36g depending on your gender. A can of coke has 39g!

Step 5: Coke & Milk

Coke and Milk are both acidic but Coke is more so. Use a 16.9 oz bottle of coke and open the bottle to fill the bottle to the top with milk. This is also a slow process but after a day you can see the breakdown of the protein in milk, which has been curdled at the bottom of the bottle!

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Coffee Cups and Crayons

Simple play ideas, learning activities, kids crafts and party ideas, plus acts of kindness for kids!

June 27, 2014

Diet Coke and Mentos Classic Science Experiment

What could make summer even more fun? A free 8 week science camp that you can do with your kids at home!

I’m so excited to be teaming up with Erica from What Do We Do All Day? for a summer science series.  Each week we will be sharing a classic science experiment that you and your kids will love.

I am kicking off the series with the classic Diet Coke and Mentos science experiment !

Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

• 2 liter bottle of diet coke
• roll of Mentos candies
• a big space that can get messy!

The experiment is simple, you add all of the Mentos to the soda and once and then get out of the way!

My husband volunteered to be our candy adder since the geyser-like reaction is better the quicker you can get them all in.

The reaction happens right away! He got a little wet and sticky so you may want to wear safety goggles and clothes that can get messy.

The geyser doesn’t last long but it’s super cool!

Can you believe how high it goes? For comparison our fence is 6 feet high.

The Diet Coke and Mentos geyser is a classic for a reason–it’s such a cool science experiment!!!!

My oldest took a little video if you want to see how quickly it happens!

How does the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment work?

The carbonation in the soda reacts with the Mentos candy and little carbon dioxide bubbles form all over the candies.  This happens very quickly and when it’s fast enough then an explosion occurs.

Mentos are the candy of choice because their surface is very porous and ideal for creating lots and lots of carbon dioxide bubbles.  Any soda will work but the aspartame in diet sodas produce a bigger reaction because it lowers the surface tension of the soda.

This Summer Science Camp series is going to rock! Join us every Thursday (I promise to be on time next week!) for classic science experiments that your kids will love!

Pop over and see Erica’s classic Lift an Ice Cube With Salt and a String experiment!  It’s a fun one and you’ll to see how their initial failures taught her kids to think like scientists.

For even more science fun this summer check out my Science is Everywhere Pinterest board !

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

June 27, 2014 at 12:09 pm

Great shots! We got to do this at the library this summer with the Steve Spangler tubes. We’ve done without them before – but the tubes are really nice.

June 27, 2014 at 3:35 pm

I need to go google these tubes!

June 27, 2014 at 3:36 pm

They are so cool!!!!

June 28, 2014 at 11:25 am

Oh my, this is so awesome! I totally want to do this in the park.

June 30, 2014 at 2:03 pm

Love it :oD Thanks for sharing

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Projects from Make: Magazine

Diet coke and mentos fountain nozzle.

Make fountains like the Eepy Birds!

• Time Required!: 1 hour
• Print this Project

By William Anderson

William anderson.

The reaction of when a regular mint (or fruit) Mentos is dropped into a bottle of diet Coke can create a fountain of soda. Without a nozzle, you will have a Coke fountain only about 5 feet high. With this, you can have a Coke fountain up to 10 feet! Here’s how to make your own nozzle for cheap.

Project Steps

Cut a piece of 1/2″ PVC pipe that is 7 inches long and cement that piece to the 1/2″ coupler (the small circle in the last pic).

Now the vertical part of the tee fitting (the larger circle) needs to be cut off with a hacksaw. Cut a piece of the thin plastic to fit over the hole of the “T”. Hot glue the plastic to the cut to seal up the hole. Now cement the 1/2″ coupler to one end of the tee.

I am using blue duct tape as a substitute for PVC cement!

Take the cap off of a new 2-liter bottle of diet coke. Using a Dremel tool with a cutting and grinding stone bit, cut the top out of the cap as seen in the photo so that it is hollow. Hot glue the cap to the other end of the tee. Make sure the assembly still screws onto the bottle before moving on.

Make the trigger pin.

Drill two 1/8″ holes opposite each other so that the wire can fit through. Make a loop in the wire and tie a 5′ length of kite string to the loop. This will be the trigger pin.

Make a fountain!

With the assembly in your hands, put 5 Mentos into the chamber and put in the trigger pin. Then, flip it over and screw it onto the bottle making sure the pin doesn’t slide out in the process. It will then be armed and ready. Count down from 10, pull the string and a fountain will flow! Happy Making and be prepared to be soaked!

You may want the hole in the top of the assembly to be a bit smaller so that the fountain will be higher and/or last longer. Cut another piece of the thin plastic to cover the top end and use hot glue to secure it. Then use a 1/4″ to 1/2″ drill to make a hole in the plastic.

I have noticed that diet cola works the best when doing the Coke-and-Mentos explosion. Also, diet soda is less sticky to clean up.

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Capturing Parenthood

Bubbly Coke + Mentos Experiments

in Activities , Toddler Zone on August 8, 2019

On Tuesday, we shared a few of our favorite ways to have fun with bubbles during the summer months. And today, we are letting the bubble fun continue…with these Bubbly Coke + Mentos Experiments!

You know we love a good science experiment, and this one could not get any easier. And even though it’s super simple (and the reaction itself doesn’t last very long), I can guarantee that it will be engaging, exciting, and fun – for the entire family! We certainly spent a lot of time collaborating and laughing while conducting these experiments. 🙂

Science is always more engaging (at least for me) when it produces a noticeable reaction. I want to see the magic happen! And creating a 6-foot geyser of soda is certainly a cool reaction – at least in my book. But we didn’t stop there. Each time we conducted this experiment, our wheels kept spinning, as we tried to come up with new ways that we could manipulate it – ways that we could make it bigger and better, or just different. That’s the beauty of science and creating hypotheses…you keep testing theories until something truly magical happens!

• 2-Liter Bottle of Diet Coke (at room temperature)
• Sheet of Paper & Scotch Tape (optional)
• Latex Balloon (optional)
• Nail/Needle (optional)

We highly recommend conducting this experiment outside, on a flat surface, in a location that you don’t mind getting dirty/sticky (like the side of the street).

Our Initial Attempts (somewhat lackluster, but still fun)

We actually conducted this experiment last year, with a bottle of regular Coca-Cola and a sleeve of Mentos.

When we didn’t get the geyser height we were hoping for, we turned to the internet for some possible answers. We discovered that most people recommend using diet soda, because the aspartame in diet soda lowers the surface tension of the liquid, much more than the sugar or corn syrup found in regular sodas.

So, when we decided to give this little experiment another go, we made sure to purchase Diet Coke instead. We also noticed that you get a bigger reaction if you use more Mentos. The only questions is…how do you get all of the Mentos in the bottle before it starts erupting?

We decided to try wrapping an entire sleeve of Mentos in some mesh drywall tape, so that we could drop the entire sleeve of mint-flavored candy into the bottle at once. We thought that we’d discovered the perfect solution.

But the end result was an even more lackluster reaction than our prior year’s attempt. 🙂 What we later discovered is that the Mentos need to go into the bottle freely (not all confined together in the same space). And don’t worry, there is a way to get an entire sleeve of Mentos into the bottle at once, without taping them together. Stay tuned.

Coke + Mentos + Balloons

In the meantime, we decided to try something new and different. If you’ve been following along with a us for a couple of years, you may have seen our Baking Soda & Vinegar Balloon Experiment . Our daughter loved this little experiment then…so we decided to give our Coke + Mentos experiment a little balloon twist!

As you can see, there was a whole lot of giggling happening after our balloon exploded and sprayed bubbles everywhere. 🙂 We used the exact same concept as our baking soda and vinegar experiment. We shoved the Mentos down into an empty balloon, and then attached the balloon to the top of the soda bottle. The release of carbon dioxide will automatically cause the balloon to start inflating a bit on it’s own, allowing you to easily jiggle the Mentos down into the bottle. But once they’re in there…watch out! That baby can explode in any direction.

We couldn’t let the bubbly balloon fun stop there…so we decided to fill another empty balloon with Mentos. Only this time, my husband decided to poke a few holes in the balloon – to create a little sprinkler of sorts.

And it worked…briefly. 🙂 We all started to chuckle as soon as my husband placed the holey balloon over the soda bottle, because it immediately started to squeal. My husband is already thinking of new ways to take this balloon experiment to the next level – he’s busy dreaming up a base to set the soda bottle in (so that the balloon won’t cause it to topple over). And my guess is that he will pop a lot more holes in the balloon next time. Isn’t science fun?

The Ideal Coke + Mentos Geyser

Ok…so I mentioned before that it is possible to get an entire sleeve of Mentos into a bottle of soda (without taping them together) to create a massive Coke + Mentos geyser. How? By creating your own little paper sleeve (mimicking the one that the mint candies come packaged in).

Wrap a sheet of paper around a packaged sleeve of Mentos, until you’ve created a cylinder. Tape the side to secure the cylinder in place. Fold the paper on one end (to close it) and secure it with another piece of tape. Slide the packaged sleeve of Mentos out of the paper cylinder. Unwrap the Mentos, and one-by-one, drop them into your paper cylinder – leaving the top of the cylinder open. Unscrew the lid from the bottle of soda, place a finger on top of the open-end of the paper cylinder, and flip the cylinder upside down (while still holding the candies in with your finger). Line the paper cylinder up with the mouth of the soda bottle, and when you’re ready…release your finger and let the Mentos fall into the bottle. You might also want to take a step back. 🙂

Can you believe how high that geyser went? It was easily over 6-feet in the air. Short-lived…but still AMAZING!

We had so much fun working together…dreaming up different ways to conduct and manipulate this simple Coke + Mentos experiment! And I’m sure it’s won’t be our last attempt.

When all was said and done…we had gone through six 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke, and six sleeves of Mentos…all in a 30-minute time frame. As my husband said, “Our recycling bin makes it look like we suddenly developed a very bad soda habit.” But better to conduct experiments with it, than to actually drink it. 🙂

So, what’s the science behind this magical experiment? There are a few different theories out there, but the most common one has to do with the combination of the carbon dioxide in the soda, and the textured (or dimpled) surface of Mentos candy. Each bottle of soda is full of carbon dioxide (the bubbles). The bubbles stay suspended in the liquid, until you open the bottle and pour the liquid into a glass. When you drop something into a carbonated soda, it speeds up this process by breaking the surface tension of the liquid, and by allowing bubbles to form on the surface of the Mentos. Since Mentos candies are covered in little dimples, it increases the surface area…allowing a larger amount of bubbles to form.

Science is seriously so cool! Have you tried the Coke + Mentos experiment with your kiddos yet?

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Diet Coke and Mentos Soda Geyser

The Diet Coke and Mentos soda geyser, also known as the soda and candy fountain or volcano, is a physical reaction between candy and carbon dioxide that instantaneously releases the gas so it shoots into the air. There is a lot of science behind this deceptively simple project! Here are instructions for performing the original project, tips for getting the tallest eruption, options for material substitutions, and a look at how the Diet Coke and Mentos geyser works.

All you need is a packet of Mentos candies and a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke:

• Roll of Mentos candies
• 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke

Make sure the candy is fresh and the bottle of soda is unopened. Freshness matters!

You also need a way of delivering the candies into the soda. One method is just dropping the column from your hand, but rolling them into a paper or index card tube is more reliable. Stacking them into a test tube is another option.

Substitutions

While Mentos and Diet Coke work best, you have other options:

• Any carbonated beverage
• Any candy that stacks neatly into a column
• Coins, shot, or other small items that fit through the bottle opening
• Sand or salt instead of candy (which work quite well)

In general, diet carbonated beverages produce higher fountains than sugary ones. Also, they don’t produce a sticky mess. Uncarbonated beverages, like juice or water, do not work at all. Objects with smooth, flat surfaces (like coins) do not work nearly as well as other options.

How to Make the Diet Coke and Mentos Soda Geyser Erupt

The project is messy. You might want to step outdoors.

• Open the Mentos candies and stack them into a single column.
• Open the bottle of soda.
• Drop the column of candy into the bottle, all at once.

If you have more candy, you can repeat the eruption using the same bottle of soda. It won’t be quite as dramatic, but still works.

Tips for Getting the Biggest Eruption

• Diet Coke or other diet colas outperform any other drinks. There are a lot of potential reasons for this, mainly involving the effects of aspartame, potassium benzoate, and other ingredients on the surface tension and foaming capacity of the beverage. The worst carbonated beverages for this project are carbonated water and sparkling alcoholic drinks.
• The blue Mentos candies work better than other flavors. The fruity Mentos are reportedly the worst flavor. Freshly unwrapped candies are best. Old candy is not very effective, probably because humidity changes the candy surface.
• A 2-liter plastic bottle works better than any smaller bottle, whether it is plastic or glass.
• You get a better eruption at high altitude or low atmospheric pressure compared with sea level or other high pressure situation.
• Warm soda produces a higher fountain than cold soda.

How the Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment Works

The Diet Coke and Mentos eruption is a physical process more than a chemical reaction. The candy surface has many tiny imperfections and cavities, each only a micron or so in size. When you drop the Mentos into the soda there are numerous minute air bubbles stuck onto them. These little bubbles act as nucleation sites for rapid de-gassing of the soda:

CO 2 (aq) → CO 2 (g)

Because the nucleation sites lower the activation energy for bubble formation, you can say they catalyze the reaction.

The candies are dense enough that they sink to the bottom of the soda bottle, interacting with dissolved carbon dioxide as they fall. As carbon dioxide bubbles form, the gas is lighter than the liquid and the bubbles rise. As they rise, they expand. The pressure of the gas results in a quick release of pressure, making a geyser out of the soda. Ingredients in the partially-dissolved candy help the bubbles keep their shape and form a foam as the liquid ejects from the bottle.

Numerous investigations into why diet soda (especially cola) works better than sweetened soda or why Mentos works better than other candies answer some questions, but not all of them. The ingredients in the soda make a difference. However, which ones enhance bubble formation and which suppress it are unclear. The chemical composition of the candies likely contributes to bubble formation, but it’s really their surface structure that matters the most.

Turn the Science Project Into an Experiment

Performing the Diet Coke and Mentos project is easy, but turning the project into an experiment is also simple. Just find a variable under your control, predict the outcome from changing it, conduct an experiment that tests this hypothesis , and then analyze your results and see if your prediction was correct. Here are some ideas of variables you can explore:

• Is there an optimal number of candies for the best eruption?
• Compare different types of carbonated beverages. Do you think, for example, that Coke Zero performs as well as Diet Coke? Do other brands of diet cola perform as well?
• Explore the effect of soda temperature on fountain formation. If you see a difference, comparing chilled and warm soda, can you explain it ?
• Are there any candies that work as well as Mentos? In general, is there a way of predicting whether or not a particular kind of candy produces an eruption?
• What effect do you expect, if you add a bit of bubble solution or dishwashing liquid to the soda before adding the candy?
• Design different “candy delivery” systems. What are the pros and cons of each of them?
• Can you make a nozzle that reduces the diameter of the bottle? If so, what effect does this have on the height of the eruption?

Fun Facts About the Diet Coke and Mentos Project

• The original soda and candy fountain project, circa 1910, used Wint-O-Green Lifesaver candies (which as also great for the “spark in the dark” triboluminescence project ). However, the company changed the candy diameter in the 1990s and it no longer fits into most bottles.
• Scientists estimate the eruption releases between 2.4 and 14 million bubbles per liter of Diet Coke. Regular Coke produces a lot less bubbles.
• A single Mentos candy contains 50,000 to 300,000 nucleation sites, although the reaction does not utilize every one of them.
• Coffey, Tonya Shea (2008). “Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction?”. American Journal of Physics . 76 (6): 551–557. doi: 10.1119/1.2888546
• Kuntzleman, Thomas S.; Imhoff, Amanda M. (2021). “How Many Bubbles Are in the Foam Produced during the Candy-Cola Soda Geyser?”. Journal of Chemical Education . 98 (12): 3915–3920. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c01001
• Kuntzleman, Thomas S.; Annis, Jezrielle; Anderson, Hazel; Kenney, Joshua B.; Doctor, Ninad (2020). “Kinetic Modeling of and Effect of Candy Additives on the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser: Experiments for Elementary School Science through Physical Chemistry”. Journal of Chemical Education . 97 (1): 283–288. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00796
• Kuntzleman, Thomas S.; Johnson, Ryan (2020). “Probing the Mechanism of Bubble Nucleation in and the Effect of Atmospheric Pressure on the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser”. Journal of Chemical Education . 97 (4): 980–985. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b01177

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