why does mentos only react violently with diet pepsi and not regular pepsi?

Answer 1

...i get the best results with diet Coke. although regular Coke works well , the artificial sweetener aids the nucleation of CO2 on the irregular surface of said Mento...cool extra diddy : get a pour top from your local bartender , pinch off the air return , and slam it onto the bottle after the mentos drop ( use 4 or 5 for full effect ) and hang on !!!

play nice !

Answer 2

Diet drinks in general are sweetened with aspartame. This molecule is has a lower molecular weight and is smaller in size than sugar, sucrose (see Wikipedia.org for chemical structures). How does this translate into a quicker "reaction" with mentos? What happens when mentos are dropped into a carbonated beverage is that the CO2 molecules in solution become attached (nucleated) to the mentos (since the original mentos have a rougher suface than some of the others, these are the most effective) and then are released. The mentos simply act as a gathering agent to gather all of the CO2 out of solution. The fact that the aspartame is a smaller molecule would somewhat make it easier for the CO2 to attach to the mentos but would also not block the released CO2 as much. This rapid rush of CO2 out of the bottle (and taking the soda in its way with it) is what causes the nice soda fountain that is typically seen in these demonstrations.

Answer 3

It should react with both.

However, the sugar based soda has a higher density and the Mentos don't sink to the bottom as fast. In a diet soda, you have the whole bottle reacting because the Mentos sink down quickly.

Answer 4

Mentos Mints react to both pepsi and diet pepsi. The only reason diet pepsi is usually used is because it is less sticky then regular pepsi.

Answer 5

Because they are made with different ingredients and ONLY the diet has the one that reacts with the mentos.

Answer 6

they explained the whole thing on mythbusters (Episode 57: Mentos and Soda).