Who wouldn’t love yet another slow motion video of the Mentos Geyser experiment. Robert Woodhead (I guess I need to learn more about this guy) used the flying soda as the test subject for his Casio EX-F1 camera. The result is some amazing slow motion photography (1200 fps).

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Here’s the video of the latest record. I didn’t realize that the guys at Eepybird were involved. Hats off to Stephan and Fritz - nice job! Is there any other video floating around?

Teachers have been doing this experiment for several years, but with the advent of YouTube and the advantages of the internet, more and more kids are learning about it, and experiencing the sheer fun of science in their back yards and classrooms alike. But what do students actually learn from this experiment?

They learn that the scientific laws and theories in their textbooks came about because somebody made a mess in his/her back yard or classroom. They learn that science is not dry (sometimes it’s really WET!) but actually fascinating. They learn about actions and reactions. They learn that there is beauty in a scientific experiment. They learn that they have the power to prove or disprove a theory. They learn that science is all about exploring and wondering, and sometimes it’s really sticky or messy. They learn that when everyone drops the mint into the diet coke at precisely the same moment and in the exact same way, the results of the experiment are more fair. (Using the Geyser Tube helps with that problem!) They also learn that good science appeals to people of all ages.

The entire experiment is outlined right HERE.

Oh, and one more thing: Not only will the students learn all the above things, they will also learn WHY. And they will remember.

We always remember things that made us happy, and made us laugh, and made us really, really dirty.

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According to Guinness World Records, the 973 Mentos-powered soda geysers launched at Arena Park in Cape Girardeau, Missouri is an official new record. Jason Lindsey from KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau shared his goal with us for setting a new world record back in August and needed just a few Geyser Tubes and Mentos® chewy mints to make it happen. "Contributing the materials was the easy part. Our hats are off to the team at KFVS-TV and Jason for setting the record and convincing 1,000 people to show and and get wet," says Carly Reed from Steve Spangler Science.

Whenever a big geyser launch like this one makes the press, there's no end to the number of people who complain that this is a huge waste of candy and soda. Let me respond by saying this… YOU COMPLETELY MISSED THE POINT! The goal is to get people of all ages engaged in doing a science activity, thinking about the science behind the reaction, testing a variation on the reaction, and ultimately sharing their excitement about doing a science experiment. Honestly, name another time or event when a thousand people got this excited about doing a simple science experiment!

For the cost of a bottle of soda and a roll of chewy mints, a teacher just might pique a kid's curiosity and get them to show more interest in science. Who knows? Ask any teacher what kind of price tag he or she would put on that kind of motivation.

Your thoughts? 

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The more than 1,000 Mentos geyser participants in Cape Girardeau, Missouri are calling it the latest in attempts for the Guinness World Record. If you’re new to the craze, the ingredients are simple… Mentos, diet soda and a Geyser Tube (the loading device that ensures a perfect, high-flying reaction). The goal was to launch at least 860 bottles in order to break the previous Mentos geyser record.The event took place on October 3, 2007 and was sponsored by the Heartland News - KFVS channel 12. Huge kudos for Jason Lindsey who is not only one of the station meteorologists but the chief organizer of Science Day.

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Here’s a great practical joke based on the string trigger method that many people used with Wintergreen Lifesavers years ago. The Mento is cleverly suspended above the liquid and hidden by the cap of the Diet Coke bottle. One twist and it’s all over. Remember our motto… Don’t try this at home… try it at a friend’s home.

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When the front desk called my room and asked, “Mr. Spangler… do you want us to deliver the 200 bottles of Diet Coke to your room?”, I knew that they didn’t completely understand what was about to happen. On July 10th, I was invited to present a program on creativity to the youth who were attending the National Speakers Association annual convention in San Diego. The presentation was titled Candy Creativity and you can probably guess where I was going with this. Armed with a few cases of Geyser Tube toys and a few hundred rolls of Mentos, I met up with the kids in the courtyard of the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

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Dropping a roll of Mentos into a bottle of soda used to be something that kids did for fun. Now adults are getting into the act. I opened my e-mail and received these cool pictures from the organizers of the event that took place on July 10th in Flower Mound, TX. Representatives from the Guinness World Records certified the record-setting effort, which went off at 6:30 pm inside the Circle R Ranch Rodeo Arena where 850 independent sales representatives from Books Are Fun, a Reader’s Digest Company, simultaneously dropped Mentos into 850 two-liter bottles of soda using the Geyser Tube Toy. The previous Mentos geyser record was set on May 24, 2007 in Cincinnati, Ohio when 504 Mentos-and-Coke geysers were set off.

Watch the Video: The Largest Number of Simultaneous Mentos GeysersÂ

Please remember that you’re looking at 850 screaming adults… not kids… running away. Yes, learning is fun for people of all ages.

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If you’ve ever enjoyed wearing a bottle of Diet Coke after dropping in a roll of Mentos, you know that the reaction is immediate. I’ve always thought that it would be cool if you could slow everything down and really look at the reaction. I shared the idea with our friends at Mentos and they shot this slow motion video. There are a few frames where you can see the carbon dioxide gas coming out of solution being attracted to the tiny pits (nucleation sites) on the surface of the mint. For the tech-nerds in the audience, a Phantom 9.0 high-speed digital camera from Vision Research (2,000 frames per second) captured the slow-motion footage.

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500 Greater Cincinnatians equipped with bottles of Diet Coke and a roll of Mentos set out to launch the largest number of Mentos Geysers ever to be set off all at once in one location. Drum roll please… and the first ever Mentos Guinness World Record for “Most Mentos and Soda Fountains” goes to a large crowd of wet people in Cincinnati. According to the press release, each of the 500 participants were given nice goody bag stuffed with candy, a Mentos geyser loading tube, goggles and a rain slicker. The loading tube they used is similar to the Geyser Tube but there’s no build-up of pressure like the real Geyser Tube. The guys from Eepybird (the lab coat and goggle wearing guys who created that cool video on YouTube) entertained everyone with a few of their cool choreographed displays and then they led the big count down.

Here’s a look from the inside of the record setting event.

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Thousands of science teachers found their way to St. Louis for the 2007 National Science Teachers Association convention, and we wanted to make sure they had something to take back to their students. So, we loaded our trucks with experiments and products from the website along with 5,000 rolls of MENTOS stuffed into plastic test tubes and headed for the Gateway City. We were fortunate to have 14 teacher ambassadors from the Hands-on Science Institute join us in the booth to each share their favorite science activities. Aside from 500 bottles of Diet Coke and a mountain of MENTOS, all eyes were on the 18 foot tall soda eruption chamber. We were demonstrating the new Geyser Tube by triggering a MENTOS geyser as fast as we could set-up a launch (about every 2-3 minutes for 3 full days). At the end of the convention, the soda was gone, the rolls of MENTOS were in the hands of 5,000 teachers, the truck was cleaned out… and we all had a blast. It’s back to the classroom for the 14 ambassadors to start working on cool stuff for next year’s NSTA in Boston.

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