Scientific Report: "Diet Coke and Mentos"
Scientist puts mentos in the tube of paper on top of the freshly opened bottle of Diet Coke
Scientist removes the other piece of paper from beneath the tube, allowing the mentos to fall into the Diet Coke all at once.Due to the fact that the scientist has reasearched this experiment and he knows that mentos have a very rough surface at the microscopic level, making for an extremely large amount of surface area for carbonation bubbles to form on, he quickly runs away to avoid being soaked when the bubbles force the entire 2-liter to explode.
Notice he forgot the tube. Poor tubey :(
The erruption ensues and tubey is still hovering in mid air.
Tubey gets a shower.
Scientist points at something.
posted by ERS @ 12:17 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I'm glad that there were at least six college degrees and years of experience in the field that could offer up such a wonderful unit of science. Where can I purchase this science related product?
The Diet Coke was $0.99 and so was the Mentos. The paper was $0.01. But YOU can have this science product for only 3 easy installments of $19.99. But that's not all. If you call now, you'll get a free technical manual explaining how to use this product. We'll even send a 10 year-old to read the manual to you and show you how to use this wonderful science. Hurry, it's for a limited time only.
We estimate that the Coke shot up about 15 ft (4.5m), probably for a duration of less than one second. Matt, the scientist in the picture, was able to dodge the shower, but Tubey the Tube wasn't so lucky. We will bury him next Easter.
I want to add some more to the description here. At its core, the experiment is nuclear (nu-cu-lar). Diet coke has trace amounts of Uranium 238, a catalyst in the carbonation process used to give the Coke fizz. The level is only 1 microgram per liter, which radiates at less than 1 picoCurie, more than safe for human consumption.
Now, the flavor agent in Mentos shell is a well-known fast neutron source. So when you drop the Mentos into the Diet Coke, the fast neutrons interact with the Uranium. Of course, they're not energetic enough to split the atom, but through neutron absorption and beta decay, the Uranium is transformed into Neptunium 239, which decays to iron and zirconium. In this process, copious amounts of heat is liberated, boiling the liquid, and causing it to shoot out.
I checked the USEPA limits on uranium in drinking water and, surprisingly, Ben was correct, the uranium limit is 30 ug/l which is probably several magnitudes less than the amount needed to give you cancer, so Diet Coke will not give you cancer. However, I would not suggest drinking it after it has reacted with the mentos because there may be dangerous levels of iron and zirconium, plus you might burn your mouth.
It's not really surprising that I'm correct ;). I'm just trying to put Kevin's science dollars to work for him.
Oh yeah, by the way, I believe it was science that came up with the idea of adding uranium to the coke to make it fizz. So Kevin every day when you drink your twelve cokes, you are indirectly purchasing units of science. I commend you on your extremely generous donation to science.
Coming soon....Ben splits the beer atom!!!!
Robust......dude! Or else just a lot of B.S.
I think that's what hangovers are from. Your body splits the beer atom, and liberates a ton of energy. That's why you're so energetic after a brewski. Then the radiation catches up with you the next day. Yeah. My head is spinning right now without any beer at all.
One time I was eating a spree and some type of soda and a similar reaction happened in my mouth. It looked like projectile vomiting. Pretty neat I must say. And I must say thanks to Jymer for the run down on how my science dollars are being spent. I wish more of my tax dollars would go to science production if this is the type of frontier pushing work being done. Cheers to science and science related merchandise.
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