Background Research

My project is on mentos and soda. It’s specifically on how the amount of

mentos affects the height of the geyser of soda. I previously thought that it was a
chemical reaction between the soda and mentos. I was wrong. The reaction is
physical only a little bit of chemical.
Mentos are a semi-solid candy that has a dimpled surface. Diet coke is a
highly carbonated soda. Soda is pumped full of carbon dioxide gas. It is mostly
suspended in the liquid. The molecules in the soda attract strongly around each
bubble and to make a new one or even to expand on the current one the molecules
have to break away from each other. It takes a good deal of energy to break this
“surface tension”. Once you drop the mentos into the soda the gelatin and gum
Arabic from the dissolving candy break this surface tension. This disrupts these
molecules. So new carbon dioxide bubbles form. Each mento has millions of tiny
dimples on their surfaces called nucleation sites. Nucleation sites are perfect places
for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. So as soon as the candy hits the soda millions of
carbon dioxide bubbles form on the surface. If you take the fact that mentos are
heavy you get an even bigger reaction, when all the gas is released it is at the bottom
so all the liquid rushes out. That’s what causes such I violent reaction.