steve spangler

Web-video fans may have noticed the recent spate of clips featuring guys dropping Mentos into Diet Coke bottles. The resulting geysers make for hilarious, sticky fun and have been the subject of some scientific enquiry. Steve Spangler explains on his site that the explosions are caused not by a chemical reaction between Mentos and Diet Coke (so you can breathe easy about consuming the two together) but a physical one: Mentos are the right shape and weight to break the surface tension of the bottled soda. All the little bubbles that form around the candies create a gas pocket that forces the liquid through the small opening of a liter bottle, resulting in an explosive plume of pop. Read Spanglers page for a more detailed explanation.

The main objective of this blog post, however, is to draw your attention to the newest and best of the geyser videos—this one shot in Buckfield, Maine, where folks evidently have lots of free time on their hands. In it, two guys in lab coats (Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, of eepybird.com) re-create the audio-synchronized fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas using Coke bottles and Mentos. Highly entertaining stuff, and it even has a cool soundtrack. —Megan Miller

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