Crushed mentos vs whole mentos and diet coke
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Crushed mentos vs whole mentos and diet coke
My son chose this experiment for his 6th grade science fair project. Part of his assignment Is to ask a professional about his experiment. He will be performing the crushed vs whole candy in a diet coke. He would like to know why does the shape and size of the mentos affect the outcome of the project. Thank you so much.
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Re: Crushed mentos vs whole mentos and diet coke
The effect is based on nucleation where the tiny bubbles in the soda find a nook or cranny on the Mentos candy and can quickly form larger bubbles as the CO2 comes out of solution. http://www.eepybird.com/featured-video/ ... ke-mentos/ does a great job of explaining it. Our activity page on the experiment (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... oke-mentos) may help with the details of how it's done.
As for whether it matters if the candy is crushed or not, write back after your son performs the experiment. The Eeepybird article gives you a hint but you will need to do the experiment and see for yourself.
Will you be video recording the experiment for the fair? I would guess that the school won't want to clean up after a live demonstration. I did see a student do this at a fair once and she did it in a kid's wading pool to contain the mess. It was a huge hit with the crowd.
Howard
As for whether it matters if the candy is crushed or not, write back after your son performs the experiment. The Eeepybird article gives you a hint but you will need to do the experiment and see for yourself.
Will you be video recording the experiment for the fair? I would guess that the school won't want to clean up after a live demonstration. I did see a student do this at a fair once and she did it in a kid's wading pool to contain the mess. It was a huge hit with the crowd.
Howard

