Have you seen the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment that’s all over YouTube and social media? My son saw a video and has been eager to try it, so we finally did a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures and tips from our little eruption experiment so you can try it, too!
Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption
My son saw one of his favorite YouTubers doing this experiment a while back, and he’s been asking to try it ever since. When I finally got my brain together enough to add both ingredients to my shopping list, he was over-the-moon excited to see it when he got home from school.
Unfortunately, my store only carried the 12-ounce bottles of diet coke rather than the larger 16 ounce bottles. I suppose a 2-liter would have been better, but I thought the 12-ounce bottles would be better for smaller hands. We had a lovely little tiny eruption, but if you want a huge geyser, you definitely need a larger bottle of soda AND the ability to drop the Mentos candies in much quicker than my son did.
Even though we didn’t have a big geyser, he loved the experiment. We repeated it five times, and he kept sticking his hands over the bottle each time. This is just fine with the 12-ounce bottles, but you may need to use caution if you’re using the larger bottles and lots of mentos.
For the small bottles that we used, you’ll only need 1-2 Mentos tablets.
If you plan to try this experiment with your own kids, safety goggles are recommended. I had already tried it myself before my son got home, so I knew what size of an eruption to expect.
Here’s what we learned about the experiment:
- The reaction is a physical rather than chemical reaction. Dropping the Mentos into the soda breaks the carbon dioxide’s bond with water, allowing the CO2 to react with itself, causing the foam to escape.
- The speed at which you can drop the Mentos into the soda affects the size of the eruption.
- Use more Mentos for a bigger geyser. If you can drop a few in very quickly, your eruption will be larger than one with a single candy.
- Use bottles of various sizes to see different sizes of geysers.
- You don’t have to use Diet Coke! Any soda will do.
Do you plan to try the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment? We’d love to see your pictures or videos if you do!
For more kid-friendly science experiments, check out these posts:
35 Valentine Science Activities Kids Will Love
