Mentos Soda Volcano

Purpose

To demonstrate how carbon dioxide gas in soda can cause a volcanic eruption when mixed with mentos candy.


Additional information

Carbon dioxide, a colorless and odorless gas, is the chemical compound made up of two oxygen atoms bonded to a single carbon atom. Carbon dioxide can be found in soft drinks and soda water to give the beverage it's "fizz".


Sponsored Links


Required materials

  • 1 Roll of mentos mint candies
  • 2-liter of bottled diet or regular soda (note that diet soda erupts higher than regular soda)
  • A narrow test-tube that's about the circumference of the mentos or a funnel wide enough for the mentos to fit into. You may also use a narrow piece of paper to fold into a tube.
  • Index card

Estimated Experiment Time

Less than 5 minutes to set-up, only a few seconds for the eruption.


Step-By-Step Procedure

  • 1. Place your mentos candies inside the test-tube or funnel so that they're stacked one on top of the other in a single column. If you don't have a suitable test-tube, you can roll a piece of paper into a narrow tube just wide enough to fit the mentos into.
  • 2. Place the index card over the mouth of the test-tube or paper tube on the top end. Invert the test tube (flip it over) so that the index card holds the candies from falling out.
  • 3. Open the two liter of soda by removing the cap and shake the bottle a little.
  • 4. The eruption will happen very quickly, so make sure you're prepared. Place the rolled candies from the tube over the bottle opening, index card down. Remove the index card so that the candies will fall into the bottle in one smooth motion.
  • 5. Stand back and watch your volcano erupt, shooting jets of soda several feet into the air!

Note

You'll want to conduct this experiment outdoors in an open area. Your volcano may shoot several feet into the air and things WILL get messy! Also, make sure you use a 2-liter bottle with the mint (white) mentos for the best eruption.


Observation

Do you think a similar reaction would occur if you were to use other candy, such as M&Ms?


Result

When the mentos candy is dropped into the carbonated soda, which is filled with carbon dioxide gas, the gelatin and gum arabic from the dissolving candy create an energy that breaks the surface tension of the soda. The pits around the surface of the candy act as nucleation sites, which are conduits for carbon dioxide bubbles to form. Once the mentos hit the soda, bubbles immediately begin to form on their surface. When the candy hits the bottom of the bottle, the gas is released and pushes all the soda from the bottle up in the air in an amazing eruption!


Sponsored Links


Take a moment to visit our table of Periodic Elements page where you can get an in-depth view of all the elements, complete with the industry first side-by-side element comparisons!


Your email:
Your name:
Recipient email:
Recipient name:
Message:
 

Print this page   Bookmark this page  

Hide/View all projects Hide all projects Hide/View all projects

All Projects List

  • Accelerate Rusting
  • Acids And Bases
  • Additive Colors
  • Ant Microphotography
  • Apple Mummy
  • Balloon Rocket Car
  • Barney Banana
  • Bending Water
  • Bernoulli’s Principle
  • Blind Spot in Vision
  • Boiling Point of Water
  • Build an Electromagnet
  • Build an Inclinometer
  • Caffeine And Typing
  • Candle Race
  • Candy Molecules
  • Capillarity of Soils
  • Carbon in the Atmosphere
  • Checking vs. Savings
  • Chemical Metamorphosis
  • Clean Cleaners
  • Cleaning Oil Spills
  • Climbing Colors
  • Cloud Cover
  • CO2 & Photosynthesis
  • Collecting DNA
  • Colorful Celery
  • Coloring Matter in Food
  • Colors And Temperature
  • Composition of a Shell
  • Computer Passwords
  • Construct a Lung Model
  • Corrosiveness of Soda
  • Create a Heat Detector
  • Create Lightening
  • Cultivate Slime Molds
  • Cup of Lava
  • Dehydrated Potato
  • Desalinate Sea Water
  • Detergents and Plants
  • Dissolving in Liquids
  • Dissolving Solutes
  • Distillation of Water
  • Double Color Flower
  • Egg in a Bottle
  • Enzyme Activity
  • Eroding Away
  • Erosion Simulator
  • Evaportating Liquids
  • Expanding Soap
  • Exploding Ziploc
  • Extracting Starch
  • Fans And Body Temp
  • Fertilizer & Plants
  • Filtration of Water
  • Floating Ball Experiment
  • Floating Balloon
  • Fog Formation
  • Font and Memory
  • Food and Academics
  • Friction And Vibration
  • Fruit Battery Power
  • Full and Low Fat Foods
  • Galileo's Experiment
  • Gas To Liquid
  • Grape Juice & Cleaners
  • Gravity and Plants
  • Green Slime
  • Growing a Crystal
  • Growing Bread Mold
  • Growing Population
  • Haemoglobin Binding
  • Hard vs. Soft Water
  • Homemade Floam
  • Home-made Geodes
  • Home-Made Glue #1
  • Homemade Snowflakes
  • Home-made Stethoscope
  • Homemade Volcano
  • Homemade Windmill
  • Human Battery Power
  • Inertia of an Egg
  • Information and CD’s
  • Invisible Ink
  • Isolation of Bread Mold
  • Isolation of DNA
  • Jar Compass
  • Lemon Floaties
  • Levers And Force
  • Lift an Ice Cube
  • Light Colors and Plants
  • Long Lasting Bubbles
  • Magic Balloons
  • Magnified Light
  • Make a Compost Pile
  • Make a Fuse Model
  • Make a Parallel Circuit
  • Make An Elevator
  • Make Electric Circuits
  • Make Limestone
  • Make Objects Float
  • Make Static Electricity
  • Make your own sundial
  • Matchbox Guitar
  • Math and Gender
  • Mean, Median and Range
  • Measuring Air Pollution
  • Mentos Soda Volcano
  • Microbial Contaminants
  • Milky Plastic
  • Mini Greenhouse
  • Missing Reflection
  • Mixing With Water
  • Molls Experiment
  • Music and Plants
  • Musical Bottles
  • Nocturnal Plants
  • Ocean Life & Oil Spills
  • Ocean Temperature
  • Optical Mice
  • Oral Bacteria
  • Orange Water Volume
  • Organic vs. Inorganic
  • Osmosis
  • Oven Baked Ice Cream
  • Oxygen & Photosynthesis
  • Paper Bridge
  • Paper Marbling
  • Pascal’s Law
  • Play-Doh and Volume
  • Preserve Spider Webs
  • Pressure Volcano
  • Pulse Rates
  • Pythagorean Tuning
  • Refraction in Water
  • Rollercoasters & Loops
  • Rubber Bones
  • Rubber Heat Reaction
  • Rubbery Egg
  • Rust and Moisture
  • Search Engines
  • Secondary Colors
  • Seed Germination
  • Seed Germination II
  • Separate Salt And Pepper
  • Snappy Sounds
  • Soil Erosion
  • Soil vs. Hydroponics
  • Sound Waves
  • Spectrum through Water
  • Speed of Decomposition
  • Speed of Dissolving
  • Spore Prints
  • Star Observer
  • Static Electricity
  • Statistics and M&M’s
  • Stem-less Flowers
  • Super Strength Egg
  • Sweet Erosion
  • Temperature and CPUs
  • Thirsty Rocks
  • Tornado Demonstration
  • Translucent Egg
  • Transpiration in Plants
  • Typing and Speed
  • Vibrating Coin
  • Volcanic Gas
  • Water and Living Things
  • Water Displacement
  • Water Evaporation
  • Water pH
  • Your Planetary Age