I bunked office today. Well, I did send my boss an email, but the reason was more of an unwillingness to move my ass rather than the body pain which the mail purported. Faced with an invisible sticky gum that kept me glued to the bed, I reached out for my last resort - my laptop. And thus began my mini-research into the whole Diet Coke + Mentos legend. You must have already read about in the email forwards, or seen it being "performed" in one of the countless videos on Youtube.
So, is the whole thing for real? Yes it is. Diet Coke and Mentos do form a "skyrocketing" combo. And it's ascribed to a physical reaction involving the gelatin in Mentos and the CO2 (and other stuff) in Diet Coke. In short, the gelatin makes the water molecules release the carbon-dioxide due to a weakening of the surface tension between the water molecules, and the sudden increase in pressure makes the whole thing shoot up.
But not just any Mentos will do. You need to use the Mint ones which have a matte (rugged) finish, because the tiny pores on the surface serve as perfect sites for the bubbles to form.
While this deadly combo might have raised some serious concern in the minds of the public, it probably led to an increase in the combined purchase of the two products : you know why. Beset with a tad too much time and money to spare, combined with a desire to get rid of their boredom, we have a slew of amateur 'scientists' performing their great experiments with Coke. From personal trials leading to regurgitation, to a very artistic fountain display which would give even the Las Vegas jets a run for their money.
And on the brighter side, we may finally be entering a period where science is seen as cool. As one site puts it: 'maybe the apparent lapse in American kids' interest in science and engineering could be reversed by the popularity of online videos depicting wacky prank-experiments where kids blow things up, rewire gadgets and "pimp out" vehicles. Clearly, science doesn't have to be relevant for it to be cool.'
So, is the whole thing for real? Yes it is. Diet Coke and Mentos do form a "skyrocketing" combo. And it's ascribed to a physical reaction involving the gelatin in Mentos and the CO2 (and other stuff) in Diet Coke. In short, the gelatin makes the water molecules release the carbon-dioxide due to a weakening of the surface tension between the water molecules, and the sudden increase in pressure makes the whole thing shoot up.
But not just any Mentos will do. You need to use the Mint ones which have a matte (rugged) finish, because the tiny pores on the surface serve as perfect sites for the bubbles to form.
While this deadly combo might have raised some serious concern in the minds of the public, it probably led to an increase in the combined purchase of the two products : you know why. Beset with a tad too much time and money to spare, combined with a desire to get rid of their boredom, we have a slew of amateur 'scientists' performing their great experiments with Coke. From personal trials leading to regurgitation, to a very artistic fountain display which would give even the Las Vegas jets a run for their money.
And on the brighter side, we may finally be entering a period where science is seen as cool. As one site puts it: 'maybe the apparent lapse in American kids' interest in science and engineering could be reversed by the popularity of online videos depicting wacky prank-experiments where kids blow things up, rewire gadgets and "pimp out" vehicles. Clearly, science doesn't have to be relevant for it to be cool.'
2 comments:
"but the reason was more of an unwillingness to move my ass rather than the body pain which the mail purported" -- gosh I wanna send this link to ur boss ...
i knew that the voice inside me which screamed out not to divulge this should have been heeded ! [:P]
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