When reacting Mentos with Diet Coke, Does Size Matter?Researched by Karla, Joe, Stephanie, Hayley, and Robin Period 3

Setup:

This experiment requires 15 peppermint Mentos, a two liter bottle of Diet Coke, a one liter bottle of Diet Coke and a .591 liter bottle of Diet Coke. It also requires six index cards, tape, and a measuring tool. For the set up of the experiment three of the six index cards need to be shaped into lengthwise tubes and secured in that position with tape. The tubes will need to be large enough to slide the Mentos through without trouble. The caps of all three bottles will need to be taken off and set aside. To make sure the variables are managed the sodas and candies should all be the same age and brand. They should also all be at the same temperature, which for this experiment is room temperature. Managing these variables will keep the experiment constant and concise.

Method:1. Materials and Setup2. The uncapped two liter bottle of Diet Coke should be placed on a flat surface3. One of the index card tubes should be placed on top of a flat index card and five

Mentos should be inserted into the tube (the Mentos should not be able to fall through because of the second index card on the bottom)

4. The tube and the second index card should be placed on the rim of the bottle and the tube should be lined up with the bottle’s opening, the Mentos should only be separated from the bottle of Diet Coke by the second index card at this point

5. Once the cards and bottle is setup correctly the second index card should be pulled out from underneath the tube to let the five Mentos fall into the bottle

6. Once all of the Mentos have fallen out of the tube the materials should be dropped and then the eruption from the bottle should be measured in meters and centimeters and record the found data

7. After the explosion has ended all used materials should be cleaned from the area8. Next the uncapped one liter bottle of Diet Coke should be placed on the same flat

surface as before9. Repeat steps three through seven10. Lastly the uncapped .591 liter bottle of Diet Coke should be placed yet again on

the same flat surface as before11. Repeat steps three through seven12. Once the data has been collected, it should be recorded in a graph or a table

Introduction:

On our first day of class, our teacher demonstrated a Mento soda fountain. While there are many theories as to why the soda fountain occurs, the most plausible one has to do with the texture of the Mento candy. According to Andrea Seabrook from NPR news, when Mentos and soda come in contact with each other, the carbon dioxide collects in the rough pores of the Mentos, causing a rapid release of soda fizz to shoot out of the bottle. In the demonstration, we observed that when 5 mentos were dropped into a bottle of Diet Coke, a jet of soda fizz (fountain) reached a height of appx. 15 ft. In our experiment, we wish to test whether the volume of the soda has any effect on the height of the fountain. We hypothesize that the more soda that comes in contact with the mentos, the higher the fountain. Therefore, we believe that the soda in the bigger bottle will produce a larger fountain.

Abstract: The goal of our experiment was to prove and discover a variable that directly effected the height of the carbonated fountain observed in Mr. Jasmann's previous demonstration.  Different variables were considered, and we chose one based on our feeling of certainty that it was an important part of the demonstration, in order to make it work.  To test our hypothesis, the height of our fountain was a result of more soda rather then less, we tested three different quantities of soda.  We consistently dropped five mentos into the sodas, measured the heights or their explosive carbonated fountains, and gathered the results, which solidified the accuracy of our hypothesis.  A half liter of soda produced a fountain height of 25 centimeters.  The one liter soda produced a fountain height of 75 centimeters.  The two liter soda produced a staggering fountain height of 350 centimeters.  Clearly from our collected date, the result of more soda concentrated when mentos are dropped, is a recognizably higher fountain.   

Conclusion:In our hypothesis we explained that the stronger the ratio of soda to mentos, our variable of 5 mentos per soda, the height of the fountain would increase. Our hypothesis proved to be correct, we found that the more soda there was compared to the 5 mentos the higher the fountain was. The smallest fountain was our half liter bottle with a fountain of 25cm, then the second highest was the 1 litter bottle with a fountain of 75cm. The highest was the 2 litter bottle with a fountain of 350cm. These results proved that we were correct in our assumption.

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Volume vs.Height

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Volume of Diet Coke (Liters)