Why does Diet Coke and Ments react like it does?? This is for a school project... I NEED ANSWERS ASAP!!! :)?

Question

Why does it react like it does?????? I really need to know, I am giving a presentation on it on the 29th and our teacher is oushing us to get this done ASAP! :)

Answer 1

Watch the video from the Mythbusters episode where they did this experiment. It has a pretty good scientific explanation that should help you greatly with your project and should allow you to duplicate the results.

Go to youtube and do a search for "Mythbusters Mentos" and select the video that is 8:07 (video ID# kMXPOqovSBs). The link won't work properly in answers

Answer 2

The Diet Coke & Mentos eruption is due to the rapid expanding of the carbon dioxide on the surface of the candy

To form a new bubble, water molecules must push away from one another. It takes extra energy to break this surface tension. So, in other words, water resists the expansion of bubbles in the soda.

Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pores all over its surface. These tiny pores function as nucleation sites for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos enter the soda, bubbles form all over their surface. They quickly sink to the bottom, causing carbon dioxide to be released by the carbonated liquid with which they come into contact along the way.