Who doesn’t think that having a soda blast countdown for your birthday isn’t a good idea? This is especially great for summer birthdays when you are already outside swimming, having fun in the sprinklers, and can easily clean up the aftermath!
Ever since Andrew saw this mentos geyser for his sister’s birthday party at Little Beakers we have wanted an excuse to do it again. The best part is that the supplies are less than $10 and you can find it on Amazon here. This particular geyser tube is great because you can choose the style of your geyser depending on the top cap you screw on. This was so. much. fun.
What is the science behind it?
Soda is manufactured with a lot of carbon dioxide (that is the gas that makes it fizzy). Some bubbles come off while it is in the bottle but unless you open the bottle the majority of the carbon dioxide stays saturated in the liquid. When you drop Mentos candy in the soda bottle the candy gathers little bubbles on its surface as it sinks to the bottom. This action causes a giant reaction as the soda is pushed up out of the bottle with carbon dioxide. And there you have it… a sugary soda blast. Isn’t carbon dioxide fun?
Here are some tips before you try it:
- We used regular Coke but apparently Diet soda will have a taller blast and won’t be as sticky to clean up
- Warm soda works better than cold soda
- Yes, I thought we could do the blast multiple times with the same 2L bottle of soda. If you have multiple kids you may want a few 2L bottles handy
This was a HUGE hit and made Andrew feel so special for his 3 year old birthday. It is safe to say that he loves science too! And I feel a science birthday tradition in the making.
I hope you have a blast doing your own Mentos geyser experiment and making amazing summer memories with science!
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