Wednesday, August 02, 2006

By the power of Mentos, I command ye RISE!

You've probably seen the videos of Mentos and Diet Coke eruptions. Well I had to try it for the 4th of July. The trick is to get all 4 Mentos in before everything goes up in a column of froth. Mom used a funnel and got it to work. I tried a funnel and it didn't work. I also tried a tube. I wanted to try running a thread through the middle and dropping them in, but I was voted down.

2 comments:

TooMuchCoffeeLady said...

So you need exactly 4 mentos?

What about drinking 1/2 the diet coke, and dropping in only 2 mentos?

That way the first has longer to fall, so you have time to put in the second, and the second has longer to fall so you have more time to run.

Ibid said...

One just sits and froths for a minute or two. Two gives you about a foot tall fountain, then settles down and gurgles. 4 gets you a good tall fountain. I haven't tried more, but I get the impression that beyond that there's just not enough gain to be worth it.

I've got a friend working on some hidden fountains to set off in his yard for Halloween. He's gonna put 4 on a thread, drink the bottle down enough to get them in the top without touching the liquid and then anchoring the string to a needle across the top. Another string runs from the needle across the front walk. When the trick-or-treaters hit the thread the needle gets yanked off and the Mentos fall.

But if you lower the fluid levels too much you won't be able to get the pressure up fast enough for a good fountain.