why does diet coke and mentos explode?

Answer 1

It is a physical reaction, not a chemical one. Water molecules strongly attract each other, linking together to form a tight mesh around each bubble of carbon dioxide gas in the soda. In order to form a new bubble, or even to expand a bubble that has already formed, water molecules must push away from each other. It takes extra energy to break this "surface tension." In other words, water "resists" the expansion of bubbles in the soda.

When you drop the Mentos into the soda, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy break the surface tension. This disrupts the water mesh, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pits all over the surface. These tiny pits are called nucleation sites - perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos hit the soda, bubbles form all over the surface of the candy. Couple this with the fact that the Mentos candies are heavy and sink to the bottom of the bottle and you've got a double-whammy. When all this gas is released, it literally pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle in an incredible soda blast. You can see a similar effect when cooking potatoes or pasta are lowered into a pot of boiling water. The water will sometimes boil over because organic materials that leach out of the cooking potatoes or pasta disrupt the tight mesh of water molecules at the surface of the water, making it easier for bubbles and foam to form.

When a scoop of ice cream is added to root beer, the "float" foams over for essentially the same reason. The surface tension of the root beer is lowered by gums and proteins from the melting ice cream, and the CO2 bubbles expand and release easily, creating a beautiful foam on top

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

They don't really explode...they mostly fizzle. What size Diet Coke did you buy? For optimal discharge you should use a 2 liter and put like an entire pack of mentos in all at once.

Answer 4

I saw a scientist on TV- he said that if you drop all the mentos in a package (13) in at the same time, they displace the liquid in the 2 liter bottle, and the carbon dioxide causes it to explode.
Here's a link


http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2074661

Answer 5

Same reason I explode on occassion, Chemical Reaction. The chemicals in the soda and mentos get excited and BOOM!

Answer 6

Their is a chemical reaction when the mentos go into the coke

Answer 7

Go to Killsometime.com and watch the video of that, the **** is awesome!!!! You can tell there it doest explode, it just reacts with it, and builds the pressure for the foam to erupt

Answer 8

Sugar

Answer 9

I've never heard that one before. But, it's probably because one of then is an acid and one is a base.

Answer 10

Acid reaction?