What type of reaction occurs in the diet coke and mentos experiment?

Question

Please help me identify which reaction occurs in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment.

chemical?
physical?
or
exothermic?

please help!

Answer 1

Physical.

The Coke is supersaturated with carbon dioxide and The Mentos provide nucleation sites for the dissolution.

Answer 2

The guys at EepyBird (the ones who did that great video with all the fountains and stuff) did a zillion different tests and determined that a 2 L of Diet Coke and regular Mentos work the best. I saw a thing on Mythbusters where they'd seen the EepyBird video and decided to analyse it. Basically, when Mentos sink to the bottom of the Coke, the chemicals in them react with the Coke, and basically the Coke releases all of it's CO2 at once, which is the fizzing that you get. Mentos contain a certain kind of gum that seems to be a very strong key to this, but really it's all fo the chemicals in the Diet Coke and the Mentos working together. Lifesavers won't work because they don't contain exactly the right ingredients. Also, they determined that it has to be the regular Mentos, not the shiny ones. When the Mentos are too smooth like that, there aren't enough places for the molecules in the Coke to latch on, so the raction doesn't happen nearly as fast.

Answer 3

There are various theories being debated as to the exact scientific explanation of the phenomenon, many scientists claim that it is a physical reaction and not a chemical one.[4] Water molecules strongly attract each other, linking together to form a tight connection around each bubble of carbon dioxide gas in the soda. To form a new bubble, water molecules must push away from one another. It takes extra energy to break this surface tension. So, in other words, water resists the expansion of bubbles in the soda.

When Mentos are dropped into soda, the gellan gum and gum arabic of the candy dissolves and breaks the surface tension. This disturbs the water connection, so that it takes less work to expand and form new bubbles. Each Mentos candy has thousands of tiny pores all over its surface. These tiny pores function as nucleation sites, perfect places for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. As soon as the Mentos enter the soda, bubbles form all over their surface. They quickly sink to the bottom, causing carbon dioxide to be released by the carbonated liquid with which they come into contact along the way. The sudden increase in pressure pushes all of the liquid up and out of the bottle.

The reaction was the subject of an August 9, 2006 episode of MythBusters, a popular television program on the Discovery Channel.[5] They concluded that the caffeine, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO2 gas contained in the Diet Coke and the gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of the Mentos all contribute to the geyser effect.[6] In addition, the MythBusters theorized that the physical structure of the Mentos is the most significant cause of the eruption. When flavored Mentos with a smooth waxy coating were tested in carbonated water, no reaction occurred, whereas standard Mentos added to carbonated water formed a small geyser, by their claim, affirming the nucleation-site theory. (Of course a wax coating would render just about anything inert in this experiment; wax-coated sodium would have given the same reaction.) This was further supported when rock salt was used as an effective substitute for Mentos.[6] The experiment was also repeated in an episode of Numb3rs.[7]

Answer 4

Chemical.

There are four seperate ingredients of a mento that in diet coke that enhance the dynamic release of CO2 .

Only the pits on the mentos would be a physical cause.

The remaninder are chemical.

Watch the Youtube of the MythBuster experiments.

Answer 5

Physical. The Diet Coke bubbles are reacting physically with the surface of the Mentos candy.

Answer 6

Mythbusters Mentos And Soda

Answer 7

well i think a chemical in the mentos reacts with a chemical in diet coke so i would have to say chemical

Answer 8

if u add mentos 2 diet coke it explodes...so i guess a chemical, exothermic reaction since u cant reverse the changes and it has 2 be exothermic cuz it explodes..

Answer 9

physical and chemical.

Mythbusters showed that the caffeine is necessary, and the CO2 molecules need the mentos to act as nucleation sites for bubbles.

Answer 10

It explodes into a fountain of foam! I'd say that it was chemical because it is made by the reaction of two different ingredients.