Diet Coke and Mentos Shoots 40+ Feet!

Decided to make a video of what we are about to do in science class. We think the highest stream was about 40+ feet! Tell me if you think I should get a good grade. LOL

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Here is my lab writeup:
John Byron Hanby
Science 3rd Period
9.20.09

Diet Coke and Mentos ExD

Problem: How will the size of the nozzle affect the height of the Diet Coke stream?

Hypothesis: If the size of the nozzle is decreased, then the height of the stream will increase.

Materials:
18 Bottles of Diet Coke (2 liters per bottle)
10 Rolls of Mentos (14 Mentos per roll)
15 Meter Measuring Stick (1 meter increments)
1 Timer or Stopwatch
1 Regular Screw Driver
2 ½ Inches of 1 Inch Diameter Plastic Tubing
Two 1 ½ Inch Clamps
1 ½ Ball Flow Valve
2 Inch Steel Coupling, 1 Inch in Diameter
One 1 Inch PVC Connector
1 ½ to ¾ Inch Reduction Valve
¾ to ½ Inch Reduction Valve
1/8 Inch Ball Flow Valve
1 Roll of Plumbers Tape


Procedure:

1. Gather materials and assemble nozzle.

2. Make sure the dropping chamber is closed.

3. Add 5 Mentos to the dropping chamber.

4. Place the valve onto the Diet Coke bottle and secure clamp with screwdriver (7 notches).

5. Check the top valve and make sure that it is horizontal (closed).
6. Turn large red valve, releasing the Mentos.

7. Wait 15 seconds after the Mentos are released, and turn the top metal valve to the up (vertical/open) position.

8. Measure how high the stream shot into the air.

9. Clean the entire mechanism after every use.

10. Repeat steps 1-9 three times for each different nozzle size, and record your data.

11. Average the data of the three tests and graph.

Conclusion:
In the Diet Coke and Mentos experiments, our group tested how different sized nozzles would affect the height of the geyser. We found that the smaller the nozzle size, the higher the geyser went. With a control size of 2 cm, the average height of the geyser was 3.16 Meters. With a nozzle size of .75, the average height of the geyser was 6.16 Meters. Therefore, the smaller the nozzle size, the higher the geyser will shoot. Our hypothesis was "If the nozzle size is decreased, then the height of he geyser will increase." I accept our hypothesis as our results did back up what we predicted. I learned that when a carbonated drink is mixed with a porous surface, a reaction called nucleation occurs which creates millions of small bubbles within a few milliseconds. I also learned that the more pressure that something has built up, the higher the geyser would shoot. Our group encountered many problems while experimenting. When I conducted the tests at home, none of the problems we faced here in school occurred at home. We had trouble with malleable coke tops, and this caused problems with releasing the Mentos. The only differences between the tests here and at home were that the coke bottles were left at school for one week, and were exposed to the sun, and this could have messed with the composition of the plastic and the Diet Coke itself.




Application:
In the Diet Coke and Mentos experiments, I think that the size of a nozzle could be applied to others real world problems such as water-jet cutting. When water-jet cutting, the water needs to go at a high velocity in order to cut through the metal. In order to cut through the object, water would have to be focused with a nozzle. Knowing that a higher velocity is achieved with a smaller nozzle, the findings from our experiment could be beneficial.

Possible Errors/Hidden Variables:
In this experiment, there were many hidden variables. For example, the amount of carbonation, the amount of nucleation sites, the weight of the Diet Coke, the weight of the Mentos, the shape of the Mentos, the time between each Mentos touching the Coke, and the time the Mentos sat in the bottle before the pressure was released. For most of these variables, there is no easy of eliminating them, but we can always try in the future. =)

Experimental Redesign:
If I were able to do this lab over again, then I would not really change anything except the way that I attached the nozzle I created to the bottle. Originally I used a clamp but in the future I will screw it on with a bottle-threaded tube so it doesnt bend the bottle. I would also measure the weight of the Diet Coke, the weight of the Mentos, and I would try to do the experiment the day I purchased the bottles and check the expiration dates, to avoid unknown factors such as sun exposure, loss of carbonation, and degraded aspartame.

Thank you so much Mr. White for letting us do this amazingly fun lab!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Diet
• Coke
• Mentos
• Science
• Technology
• Cool
• Rocket
• Bomb
• Explosion
• Safety
• Goggles
• Sunglasses
• Running
• Shoes
• Stream
• Shot

[Jboycool4]

yes. The palm tree in the back is about 35ft.

[mbopferkuch]

A+ all the way. :D

[9Epicman]

that looked so wrong

[harsa09]

like your house

[yogertlvr]

impressive devise, and worked very well except for the glow stick goop really Did not work out very well. My have showed but did not see it on the camera. But all in all, that was very impressive . Keep up the great work.

[d124s]

wow that was cool. 40 feet was pretty far high.

[ldulf09]

Carnegie Mellon niggaaaaa!

[fram4153]

With pipework like that... I can only assume your dad is named Mario and you have an uncle named Luigi.

And you did this in 8th grade? insane. At my school they wouldn't let us get within 100 yards of a bag of M&M's, let alone soda and mentos.

[dhruvmishra17]

wow nice way to waste cold drinks

[zouher2000]

wat does gost cot on tape have to do with pepsi exploding

[missEshoe]

check out the one i made for my marketing depts competition -- SEARCH -- diet coke + mentos big data explosion