Why does this happen......?

Question

When you mix mentos with coke, why does it like "explode?"

Answer 1

I've seen this on Letterman. Though I do not eat Mentos and do not know what is in them, I'm sure you can look on the package and see what the ingredients are. In general the ingredients in the Mentos react with the gas that is dissolved in the cola. The gas is released very quickly and pressure builds up very fast. An eruption or explosion occurs depending upon the type of container or opening the cola can escape from.

Answer 2

There are bubbles of carbon dioxide gas in coke. They are surrounded by water molecules, which are held strongly together by hydrogen bonds. It is these bonds that prevent the bubble from expanding and escaping. Hence there is a surface tension around each bubble.

When a mentos is dropped into the coke it dissolves. Water molecules have to move towards the mentos in order for this to occur, hence the surface tension around the bubbles are broken and the bubbles rapidly escape to ths surface.

The surface of the mentos also has many pores from which are perfect sites for new bubbles of carbon dioxide gas to form from the solution (nucleation sites), causing the release of even more bubbles in the bottle.

This sudden rise in pressure inside the bottle causes the liquid to 'explode' out of the top of the bottle as the bubbles of gas formed rush quickly to the surface pushing the liquid along with it.

Answer 3

your talking about the mentos fountain experiment.
this will work best with 6-10 mint flavored mentos and a 2L bottle of diet coke.
the reaction is not a chemical reaction but more a physical one.
the porous nature of the mentos and the gum Arabic present in the mentos causes a reduction in the surface tension of the water,consequently there will not be enough surface tension in the water to contain the carbon dioxide dissolved in it and hence it results in a very rapid ejection of carbon dioxide,hence we see a fountain.

Answer 4

Coke is acidic in nature.