Night of Chemistry, Oct. 7, 2008
Doctoral students Jenifer Hawk and Claire Parker-Siburt demonstrate the explosive results of combining Mentos® mints with a variety of diet colas.
Carbonated drinks contain dissolved carbon dioxide. The addition of Mentos® candies provide a nucleation site in which the dissolved carbon dioxide can collect and come out of solution as a gas. The science pertaining to this phenomenon is not fully understood at this point.