Science Finally Explains The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment

After thousands of viral YouTube videos and one Weezer music video, scientists have finally given us an explanation as to how the mysterious Diet Coke and Mentos reaction happens.

Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and her students “tested the reactions between Diet Coke and fruit Mentos, mint Mentos, and various ingredients such as other mints, dish-washing detergent, table salt and sand. They also compared reactions using other fizzy liquids such as caffeine-free and sugary colas, as well as soda water and tonic water,” says ABC News.

Check out the Mentos/Diet Coke Secret after the jump!

Diet Coke with either fruit or mint Mentos creates the most impressive explosions with a horizontal fountain stream of up to 20 feet. Coffrey’s findings show that the rough surface of the Mentos creates nucleation, a process which forms millions of carbonated bubbles over a very short period of time. This, in conjunction with low surface tension created by the content of Diet Coke, the gum arabic coatings of Mentos, and the quickly sinking action of the dense Mentos all lead to a cascading effect on the carbon dioxide of the Diet Coke creating the soda geyser.

If you want a more impressive fountain, Coffey suggests that you hold the bottle at an angle of 10 degrees off vertical.

Mentos Movies: Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters investigate Diet Coke and Mentos and Keri Byron’s Explosive FHM Diet Coke and Mentos Photoshoot