Article

pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

New Demonstrations and New Insights on the Mechanism of the

Candy-Cola Soda Geyser
Thomas S. Kuntzleman,*,† Laura S. Davenport,‡ Victoria I. Cothran,† Jacob T. Kuntzleman,†
and Dean J. Campbell§
†
Department of Chemistry, Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, Michigan 49283, United States
‡
Department of Chemistry, Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49423, United States
§
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois 61625, United States
*
S Supporting Information

ABSTRACT: When carbonated beverages (which are supersaturated solutions of aqueous carbon
dioxide) are confined within a narrow-necked container, events which rapidly release the gas from
solution produce a fountain out of the beverage. One well-known variant of this experiment is the
addition of Mentos candies to a bottle of Diet Coke. Previous reports have shown that the presence
of aspartame and benzoate in carbonated beverages enhance the fountaining effect. These additives
are thought to enhance fountaining by lowering the surface tension of the beverage, but the details
of this process are not completely understood. This paper explores the relationship between geyser
height and the type of carbonated beverage. It is shown herein that several other compounds
commonly found in commercial carbonated drinks such as sucrose, glucose, citric acid, and
components of natural flavors also enhance geyser heights. By examining how these additives affect
bubbling and foaming behavior in seltzer water, it is postulated that solutes which inhibit bubble
coalescence contribute to higher fountains.
KEYWORDS: General Public, Elementary/Middle School Science, High School/Introductory Chemistry,
First-Year Undergraduate/General, Demonstrations, Public Understanding/Outreach, Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning,
Consumer Chemistry, Phases/Phase Transitions/Diagrams

■ INTRODUCTION
If several Mentos candies are placed in a bottle of Diet Coke, an
impressive fountain erupts out of the bottle. This phenomenon
results in part from rapid escape of dissolved CO2 out of the
beverage and into the gas phase:
CO2 (aq) → CO2 (g)
The swift formation of several expanding CO2(g) bubbles
pushes the beverage contents upward and out of the bottle,
causing the fountain. This experiment can be done with just
about any carbonated beverage, and several solids other than
Mentos candies (e.g., Wint-o-Green Lifesavers, iron filings, salt,
and chalk)1−3 can initiate the fountain.
To gain an appreciation of how this experiment works, it is
useful to explore facets of the solubility of CO2 in and degassing
of CO2 from carbonated beverages. Carbonated beverages are
sealed under pressures of approximately 4−6 atm of CO2.4−6
The amount of CO2 dissolved in a carbonated beverage can be
estimated using Henry’s Law,7 which is a function of the
temperature, T, and CO2 pressure under which the beverage is
sealed:
S = kH(T )PCO2
In eq 2, S is the amount of CO2(aq) dissolved, kH(T) (=0.0345
M atm−1)8 is Henry’s Law constant for CO2 in water at 25 °C,
© 2017 American Chemical Society and
Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
and PCO2 is the pressure of CO2 under which the bottle is
sealed. Thus, if PCO2 = 5 atm, it is estimated that 7.5 g of CO2 is
dissolved per liter of carbonated beverage at 25 °C. Given this
estimate, we can use the ideal gas law to calculate that all the
CO2(aq) contained within a 2 L carbonated beverage released
(1) into the gas phase at 1 atm and 25 °C would take up about 8 L
of space.
When a carbonated beverage is opened, CO2 in the
headspace of the bottle escapes into the atmosphere. As a
result, the soda within is no longer subject to high PCO2 but
rather to the atmospheric PCO2 of about 400 ppm.9 Under this
lower PCO2, the amount of CO2 expected to remain dissolved at
equilibrium is less than 1 mg. Thus, once unsealed, a soda is
supersaturated in CO2(aq), essentially all of which will
eventually escape as a gas from a carbonated drink. Fortunately,
the release of CO2(aq) from an opened carbonated beverage
does not happen all at once, but rather quite slowly. This is
because even though the process in eq 1 is thermodynamically
favored,4 it is associated with a high activation energy, Ea.10
This barrier is generally associated with the energy required for
(2)
Received: November 8, 2016
Revised: February 7, 2017
Published: February 23, 2017
569 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 569−576
Journal of Chemical Education
bubbles to spontaneously form within a liquid, and is
proportional to the cube of the liquid surface tension, γ:10
Ea =
16πγ 3
3(P0 − P)
Here, P0 is the gas pressure above the solution at equilibrium,
and P is the gas pressure required to reach the supersaturated
concentration. It should be noted that eq 3 arises from a simple
and classical treatment and is typically inaccurate, and more
sophisticated treatments have been attempted.10
Nevertheless, how do opened carbonated beverages degas at
all, given this difficulty in forming bubbles? Tiny gas pockets,
called nucleation sites, present within a carbonated beverage
provide ready-made air bubbles into which CO2(aq) can easily
escape into the gas phase.4,10 The presence of such gas pockets
significantly lowers the activation energy required for bubble
formation, in some cases lowering the activation energy to
essentially zero.10 Nucleation sites can be found in a wide
variety of sources such as cloth fibers and scratches on drinking
glasses.4 The terms homogeneous and heterogeneous nuclea-
tion refer to whether bubble formation occurs in the presence
(heterogeneous) or absence (homogeneous) of nucleation
sites. It is in the case of heterogeneous nucleation that the
activation energy is drastically lowered.
Adding Mentos candy to a freshly opened carbonated
beverage introduces countless heterogeneous nucleation sites
into the supersaturated liquid. Indeed, scanning electron
microscope (SEM) images have demonstrated that the surface
of Mentos candies contains large numbers of nucleation sites.1
Upon addition of these innumerable nucleation sites to the
beverage, the thermodynamically favored process depicted in
eq 1 occurs with ease. Rapid degassing results, and several liters
of CO2(g) are formed within the bottle, pushing the contents
several meters high out of the opening (Figure 1 displays CO2
bubbles forming around a single Mentos candy within a
carbonated beverage). Nucleation induced soda degassing
Figure 1. Image showing CO2 bubbles forming around a single
Mentos candy within a carbonated beverage.
Article
(NISD) is a term that has been used to succinctly describe
this experiment.11
(3)
■ PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS
The popularity of this experiment has spawned several
publications describing its use in classrooms, laboratories, and
summer camps.11−13 In addition, several studies have elucidated
aspects of the physicochemical processes involved in
NISD.1,2,5,11,14,15 It has been shown that fountain height
increases with temperature, and that this effect is due to kinetic
rather than thermodynamic factors.2,5,11,15 The activation
energy for the overall degassing process from Diet Coke has
been found to be roughly 25 kJ mol−1.11 In a MythBusters
episode,14 it was argued that additives contained within
carbonated beverages increased the speed of NISD. In
particular it was noted that addition of benzoate, aspartame,
or (to a lesser extent) caffeine to sodas increased the rate of
reaction. Following up on this work, Coffey1 also noted that
carbonated beverages which contained these additives created
more impressive fountains than seltzer water, which contains
only CO2 dissolved in water. It was also found that diet sodas
produced higher fountains than sugar-sweetened sodas.1 Coffey
hypothesized that these differences could be explained due to
the presence of aspartame and benzoate (but not caffeine) in
the diet sodas. It was argued that because aspartame and
benzoate lower the surface tension of aqueous solutions, less
energy is required to form bubbles in diet sodas than in sugar-
sweetened sodas or seltzer water.
We have also observed this trend in fountain heights (Figure
2): diet sodas > sugar-sweetened sodas > seltzer water
(contains only CO2 and water).
However, the results of Figure 2 call into question some
current explanations on the effect of additives on fountain
heights. Beverages that contain neither aspartame nor benzoate
(such as Coke, Pepsi, and Caffeine Free Coke; see Supporting
Information for ingredients in beverages tested) produce higher
fountains than seltzer water. Thus, other additives likely
increase fountain height. Because the addition of sucrose or
glucose to water has been demonstrated to increase surface
tension upon addition to water,16−18 this observation suggests
that factors other than decreased surface tension contribute to
higher fountains. In fact, it has been previously suggested that
the presence of solutes in general might inhibit bubble
coalescence, which in turn allows for smaller bubbles and
higher fountain heights during NISD.5 Thus, the role of
additives on fountain heights observed was explored. To do so,
controlled amounts of several additives (sucrose, glucose, citric
acid, aspartame, sodium benzoate, magnesium sulfate, and the
flavor components linalool and citral19) were added to seltzer
water to observe the effect of these compounds on fountain
heights. Because increased foaming was associated with higher
fountains, attempts were made to quantify the relationship
between the presence of these additives and foaming behavior
through measurement of bubble sizes. The results of these
experiments shed light on the mechanism behind how
fountains are produced in the NISD experiment.
■ MATERIALS AND METHODS
The majority of these experiments were designed to be simple
to carry out, with the hopes that high school and undergraduate
students can mimic these investigations in inquiry-based
explorations of NISD. Details on modified versions of the
570 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 569−576
Journal of Chemical Education
Figure 2. Fountain heights achieved upon addition of mint-flavored Mentos to commercial beverages as described in the text. Diet beverages are to
the right of the dotted line, and sugared beverages are in between the solid and dotted lines.
experiments presented here, which we have used as lecture
demonstrations and laboratory explorations, can be found in
the Supporting Information.
Fountain Heights of 2 L Commercial Beverages
There were 11 Mentos candies introduced into a 2 L bottle of
commercial soda pop within 20 s of opening the beverage. A
modified turkey baster was used to house the candies in a
vertical column to aid in consistent placement of candy into the
soda. The resulting fountain was filmed with a home video
camera. The soda bottle was placed in front of a garage door
that measured 2.24 m from ground level to the top of the door.
The videos were analyzed using a laptop with a flat screen. The
distance from the ground to the top of the door as it appeared
in the video on the computer monitor was measured with a
centimeter ruler. The video was played and paused at the
maximum fountain height achieved. The height of the fountain
as it appeared on the screen was measured with a centimeter
ruler, and the actual fountain height was determined by ratio.
Note that the top level of the liquid prior to addition of
Mentos, and not the ground, was taken as the base of the
fountain. Most brands required five trials. However, when
significant variability was observed for a certain brand, as many
as seven trials were run to ensure a representative height.
Preparation of 1 L Seltzer Water Samples
One liter bottles of seltzer water purchased from grocery stores
were used in these experiments. One liter rather than 2 L
bottles were used due to the limited purchasing availability of
the latter. After opening a bottle, addition of sucrose (Fisher
Scientific), glucose (Fisher Scientific), citric acid (Fisher
Scientific), aspartame (NuSci), sodium benzoate (Fisher
Scientific), or MgSO4·7H2O (Fisher Scientific) was made
from stock aqueous solutions. Additions of between 0.100 and
50.0 mL of stock solution were typically required. Substantially
more volume (50−200 mL) of stock solution was occasionally
required in the case of glucose and sucrose additions. In a very
few cases to prepare samples at high sucrose concentrations, up
to 100 mL of seltzer water was poured out prior to addition of
stock. Addition of solid material was not made because doing
so caused rapid degassing of the seltzer water. Additions of
linalool (Acros Organics) and citral (Alfa Aesar) were made
from pure liquid in microliter volumes. Bottles were resealed
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immediately after additions were made in a process that took
less than 30 s. Samples were always compared to a control of
seltzer water of identical brand, expiration date, and place of
purchase. Control samples were prepared by opening a bottle,
making additions of deionized water, and resealing in a similar
time frame and fashion. In the very few cases where seltzer
water was removed to prepare highly concentrated sucrose
solutions, such samples were compared to similarly treated
controls.
Measurement of Bubble Sizes
Samples were vigorously shaken for 2−3 s to form bubbles and
then immediately placed in front of a Phantom Miro EX-2
camera fitted with a 10× magnifying lens filming at 1000 frames
per second. It was necessary to use a high speed camera to
capture images capable of resolving bubble sizes during the
rapid bubble formation and coalescence events observed. The
field of view was focused on the top 3−6 cm of the liquid in the
bottle. To ensure consistent placement, bottles were placed in a
block of polystyrene foam with a hole cut to snugly fit the 1 L
bottles. The foam block was secured in place with duct tape.
Upon video playback, the particular frame chosen for analysis
was taken as the first video frame observed wherein the bottle
was first locked in place and bubbles were observed. The
bubble sizes observed often varied dramatically; thus, the
average of at least 10 and as many as 25 bubbles in the field of
view were randomly chosen for measurement. The bubble size
for a particular bubble was taken as the longest horizontal
distance across the bubble. It should be noted that by using this
method bubbles down to about 0.2 mm in size (but not
smaller) could be detected; smaller bubbles almost certainly
existed that could not be reliably measured. Bubble sizes were
measured in this manner in at least two but no more than three
separately prepared bottles at similar concentrations.
Measurement of Fountain Height
After bubble size measurements were made, samples were left
undisturbed until all visible bubbles that adhered to the walls of
the bottle (which can act as nucleation sites) were dislodged.
This typically took no longer than 5 min. A Geyser Tube20 was
used to add 7 Mentos to each 1 L bottle within less than 30 s of
first opening the beverage. (Seltzer water with added solute
often fizzed much more readily than untreated seltzer water
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
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upon opening. Thus, slow opening of bottles was often

required to avoid material spraying out of the bottle.) The
resulting fountain was filmed with a home video camera.
Samples were placed in front of a wall with an overhang that
measured 2.60 m from ground level to the bottom of the
overhang. Actual fountain heights were determined by video
playback in a manner analogous to what was done with the
commercial 2 L beverages. However, given the differences in
brand of seltzer water and expiration date between the several
samples tested, these measurements were always recorded (and
are presented herein) relative to a control sample of the same
brand and expiration date. Fountain heights of control samples
averaged 110 ± 20 cm. In a few cases, bubbling vigorous
enough to reach into the neck of the bottle was observed prior
to addition of Mentos. The bubbling would often cause candy
to become lodged in the Geyser Tube such that it would not
fall into the liquid upon release. The vigorous bubbling could
be stabilized by pouring out a small amount of seltzer water
(20−50 mL) prior to attaching the Geyser Tube. Therefore, Figure 3. Fountain heights observed upon addition of Mentos candy
this practice was adopted for samples that displayed vigorous to seltzer water with added aspartame (●) or benzoate (○). Error bars
bubbling. Fountain heights were measured in this manner in all figures represent one standard deviation.
normally using three to four bottles prepared at similar
concentrations. Most concentrations required three to four
trials. However, when significant variability between trials was
observed for certain concentrations, as many as eight trials were
run to ensure representative heights.

■ HAZARDS
Citral and linalool are both flammable liquids. Citral, linalool,
aspartame, sodium benzoate, and citric acid may cause skin or
eye irritation. Sodium benzoate has been classified as a possible
teratogen, suspected reproductive system toxin for males, and
reproductive system toxin for females. Repeated or long-term
exposure to sodium benzoate may be toxic to blood, the
reproductive system, liver, and central nervous system. It is
important to note that sodium benzoate is generally recognized
as safe by the FDA as a food additive, and it is commonly found
at levels around 0.015% by mass in beverages.21 Figure 4. Fountain heights observed upon addition of Mentos candy

■
to seltzer water with added citral (●) or linalool (○).
RESULTS
Fountain Heights
The addition of either aspartame or benzoate to seltzer water
was observed to increase fountain height by as much as three
times (Figure 3). Higher fountains resulted as more solute was
dissolved up to roughly 0.03% by mass, after which the effect
saturated. These two compounds have been previously shown
to both decrease surface tension upon addition to water1,22 and
increase fountain heights during NISD.1,14 Given that some
commercial sodas that contain neither benzoate nor aspartame
produce higher fountains than seltzer water alone (Figure 2),
we attempted to examine the effect of other ingredients found
in commercial carbonated beverages on fountain heights. Thus,
we tested the effect of increasing concentrations of citral and
linalool, both of which have been identified as components of
natural flavorings in lemon-lime carbonated beverages,19 on
fountain heights. Very small amounts of citral or linalool were Figure 5. Fountain heights observed upon addition of Mentos candy
observed to increase fountain heights by as much as four times; to seltzer water with added citric acid.
this effect saturated at about 0.002% by mass for each substance
(Figure 4). Citric acid, another compound commonly found in Citric acid, citral, and linalool are all commonly found in
commercial soft drinks, also increased fountain height by as commercial carbonated drinks, yet none of these three
much as six times (Figure 5). However, substantially more citric substances has to our knowledge been previously reported to
acid (about 2% by mass) was required to observe an effect. increase fountain heights during NISD. Of note, about 10 times
572 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 569−576
Journal of Chemical Education
less (by mass) of either compound found in lemon-lime
flavoring than either benzoate or aspartame was required to
observe increased fountain heights.
We further endeavored to test how the addition of sucrose,
glucose, or MgSO4 (all of which have been shown to increase
surface tension upon addition to water16−18,23,24) affects
fountain height during NISD. Interestingly, all of these
substances increased fountain height when added to seltzer
water (Figure 6); this effect reached saturation with added
Figure 6. Fountain heights observed upon addition of Mentos candy
to seltzer water with added sucrose (●), glucose (○), or MgSO4 (▲).
Lines are drawn to guide the eye.
MgSO4 at about 2% by mass. Saturation was not observed at
the concentrations of glucose and sucrose tested. Nevertheless,
the results of these experiments demonstrate that factors other
Figure 7. Bubbling behavior observed in bottles of seltzer water. Bubbles formed from adding Mentos candy (A, B) or by vigorously shaking bottles
(C, D). Seltzer water alone (A, C) or with added solute (B, D). Average bubble size is 3.1 ± 1.1 mm in part C and 0.8 ± 0.4 mm in part D.
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than decreased surface tension contribute to increased fountain
height during NISD.
During the testing of fountain heights or when bottles were
otherwise agitated, more foaming was observed in solute-
containing seltzer water (Figure 7B) versus seltzer water alone
(Figure 7A). It is well-known that the presence of solutes
inhibits bubble coalescence in water, which leads to smaller
bubble sizes and greater foaming.25−31 It was therefore
hypothesized that bubble size might be inversely related to
fountain height. For a test of this idea, varying concentrations of
different solutes were added to seltzer water. These bottles
were agitated to form bubbles within each liquid; the resulting
bubbles were filmed, and bubble sizes were measured as
described in the Materials and Methods. Consistent with this
hypothesis, the addition of any solutes tested herein to seltzer
water correlated with decreased bubble size in vigorously
shaken seltzer water (Figure 7C,D). For example, when citral or
linalool was added to bottles of seltzer water and shaken,
bubble size decreased with increasing concentration of either
solute (Figure 8). Construction of an overlay plot of the
fountain height (Figure 4) and bubble size (Figure 8) data for
linalool showed good correlation between fountain height
increase and bubble size decrease with added linalool (Figure
9). Similar results were observed when constructing overlay
plots of concentration-dependent fountain heights and bubble
sizes for all other solutes tested (see Supporting Information).
These results strongly suggest that smaller bubble sizes,
through inhibition of bubble coalescence, influence fountain
heights during NISD experiments.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
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Journal of Chemical Education Article

fountains than mint-flavored Mentos (which contain no citric

Figure 8. Bubble sizes observed in vigorously shaken seltzer water with
added citral (●) or linalool (○).
Figure 9. Replot of the data for linalool from Figures 4 and 8.
Fountain height (●) and corresponding bubble sizes (○).
acid).
The surface tension of beverages can be lowered by the
addition of certain solutes, such as aspartame and benzoate.1
Because the addition of aspartame and benzoate to seltzer water
has been correlated with higher fountains, it has previously
been suggested that lowering the surface tension of beverages
increases fountain heights during NISD.1 However, in the
experiments presented here, addition of solutes to seltzer water
that has been demonstrated to increase surface tension also
increases fountain height (Figure 6), so other factors must be
involved. As stated earlier, it is well-known that the presence of
solutes inhibits bubble coalescence in water, which leads to
smaller bubble sizes and greater foaming.25−31 The correlation
between solute addition, fountain height, and bubble sizes
observed herein strongly suggests that inhibition of bubble
coalescence due to solute addition is an additional factor related
to fountain height during NISD. Notably, it has previously been
suggested that inhibition of bubble coalescence might play a
role in fountain heights during NISD.5
Inhibition of bubble coalescence could contribute to higher
fountain heights by increasing the surface area through which
CO2(aq) can enter bubbles. Coalescence of countless small
bubbles into a single bubble drastically reduces the surface area
between bubbles and the bulk solution. In the experiments on
agitated seltzer water (Figure 7A,C), bubbles coalesce quickly
into large bubbles. As a result, the surface through which
CO2(aq) may diffuse from the bulk water into bubbles is
reduced. If bubble coalescence is inhibited through addition of
solute (Figures 7B,D and 8), bubbles formed during NISD
remain small. In this state of affairs the surface area through
which CO2(aq) may diffuse from bulk water into bubbles
remains high. In this case the greater surface area would
increase the kinetics of degassing, producing greater fountain
heights.
Inhibition of bubble coalescence due to solute addition is
consistent with the trend in fountain heights observed (diet >

■
sugar-sweetened > seltzer water) during NISD in beverages
DISCUSSION (Figure 2). In contrast to seltzer water, both diet and sugar-
sweetened sodas contain added solute in addition to dissolved
In the experiments presented herein, several components CO2. Diet sodas generally contain aspartame, benzoate, and
commonly found in soft drinks increase fountain heights during natural flavorings while sugar-sweetened sodas typically contain
NISD in a concentration-dependent manner. Two of these sugars and natural flavorings. Thus, both diet and sugar-
(aspartame and benzoate, Figure 3) have been previously sweetened sodas would be expected to form higher fountains
identified to cause increased heights; the remainder tested than seltzer water upon addition of Mentos candy. Given the
(citral, linalool, citric acid, glucose, and sucrose, Figures 4−6) ubiquity of natural flavorings in carbonated beverages and the
have not. Interestingly, except for citric acid the amounts of ability of minute amounts of linalool and citral to increase
each compound required to increase fountain height are fountain height, we suggest that natural flavorings play a major
roughly in accord with amounts typically found in soft drinks role in increasing fountain height during NISD experiments
(Table 1). However, the observation that dissolved citric acid with carbonated beverages. The higher viscosity of sugar-
contributes to increased fountain height may shed light on the sweetened over diet sodas35 is a likely explanation for the
previously reported result15 that strawberry-flavored Mentos somewhat lower fountains observed in the former over the
(which contain citric acid) tend to produce much higher latter. Both bubble nucleation5 and speed of bubbles moving
through soda are likely to be inhibited in more viscous
Table 1. Amounts of Substances Typically Found in Soft solutions, causing somewhat lower fountain height.
Drinks19,21,32−34 It should be noted that, with respect to inhibition of bubble
coalescence, different solutes do not necessarily act independ-
Substance % by Mass
ently of one another. For example, it has been shown that
Aspartame ∼0.06% electrolytes act cooperatively with sucrose to inhibit bubble
Benzoate ∼0.015% coalescence.27 Therefore, the various components present in a
Lemon-lime flavor (multiple components) >0.001% typical soft drink might interact with one another to increase or
Citric acid ∼0.18% decrease bubble coalescence, impacting the geyser effect as a
Various sugars ∼10% result. Thus, while the studies presented here provide insight
574 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862
J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 569−576
Journal of Chemical Education
into the role of various solutes on geyser heights in the Diet
Coke and Mentos experiment, further studies could shed light
on how different solutes might interact to enhance or diminish
this effect.
Probing the role of solutes in inhibition of bubble
coalescence remains an active area of research. At present
there is tentative agreement that bubble coalescence is inhibited
by solutes which impart a high elasticity to bubbles. Addition of
solutes to water tends to increase bubble elasticity, which in
turn is affected by a solute’s ability to change surface tension
with increased concentration (dγ/dc)2.25−28,31 While certainly
interesting, these considerations are beyond the scope of this
article.
The experiments presented herein provide a wide range of
chemical topics for students and teachers to explore. For
example, students would likely be motivated to prepare bottles
of seltzer water at varying solute concentration if they knew
they could subsequently test the fountain heights of prepared
samples. Such an activity could be used to give students hands-
on experience calculating solution concentrations in various
units (ppm, % by mass, molarity, and molality). In addition,
these experiments naturally connect to the topic of chemical
kinetics: Increased bubble surface area increases rates of
degassing, and Mentos candy lowers the activation energy of
the degassing process. Other possibilities for connecting this
system to the chemistry curriculum have been previously
reported in this Journal.2,5,11,12
Finally, we have found that allowing observers to compare
fountain heights upon addition of Mentos to unflavored and
flavored seltzer water (which contains only natural flavorings,
CO2, and water) is a simple and engaging way to demonstrate
the effect of natural flavorings in particular and solutes in
general on fountain height. Flavored seltzer water achieves
fountain heights 4−5 times higher than its unflavored
counterpart (see Supporting Information). An advantage of
this demonstration is that no preparation of solutions is
required: Simply add Mentos under similar conditions to
flavored and unflavored seltzer water, and then explain the
differences observed. Citral or linalool may be added to seltzer
water if it is desired to allow observers to see the addition of
solute take place (see Supporting Information). Although
obviously not contained in soft drinks, alcohols in general and
isopropanol in particular provide conveniently obtained solutes
that are easy to add, and these work quite well at enhancing
fountain heights (see Supporting Information). Connecting the
results of these experiments to the differential foaming
observed in waves of freshwater and seawater tends to interest
spectators. Seawater generally has a much higher concentration
of solutes than freshwater, and this difference accounts for the
foaming and formation of whitecaps observed in seawater but
not freshwater. This differential behavior has been linked to
inhibition of bubble coalescence due to dissolved solutes in
seawater.29,30
■
CONCLUSION
The experiments presented here provide insight on role of
solutes in fountain heights achieved during the famous Diet
Coke and Mentos experiment. Addition of a surprising number
of different solutes tends to increase fountain geyser heights
during NISD in a manner that depends upon solute
concentration. The presence of solutes appears to limit the
size of bubbles produced during degassing, which contributes to
faster degassing kinetics and higher fountains. While it has been
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Article
previously suggested that solutes which decrease surface
tension are responsible for higher fountain heights during
NISD, the results of the experiments presented here suggest
that a wider variety of solutes are capable of enhancing this
effect. Even so, we do not discount that surface tension likely
plays a role in the fountain heights observed.
In the experiments presented here, very small amounts or
citral and linalool (both components of natural lemon-lime
flavor) were observed to be quite effective at increasing
fountain height. On the basis of these findings, it is likely that
several other components of lemon-lime and other flavors
(orange, cherry, vanilla) might behave similarly. Further, the
effects of common cola additives such as caffeine and
phosphoric acid were not explored herein, but are likely to
affect fountain height. Discovering various components of
flavorings and other additives in soft drinks that are effective at
increasing fountain heights could provide a springboard for
small research projects for high school and undergraduate
chemistry students to explore.
■
*
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information
The Supporting Information is available on the ACS
Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862.
Fountain height/bubble size overlay plots for other
solutes, ingredients list for beverages tested in Figure 2,
and information on how to conduct experiments that
demonstrate the effects discussed herein (PDF, DOCX)
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: tkuntzle@arbor.edu.
ORCID
Thomas S. Kuntzleman: 0000-0002-2691-288X
Dean J. Campbell: 0000-0002-2216-4642
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank Emily Brewer, Matthew Folkenroth,
Mayuresh Gadgil, Keri Martinez, and Max Palmer for
assistance; Wayne Bosma for assistance and helpful discussion;
and Mark Ott for helpful discussion. The reviewers of this
manuscript provided a wealth of helpful insights and
suggestions that greatly improved this work. We thank one
reviewer in particular for suggestions for future work. Spring
Arbor University provided financial support of this project.
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576 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862

J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 569−576