I recently received an email from Mimi Sylvia and her grandson Scott. Mimi (she has been called that since her oldest granddaughter tried to say “grandma” and it came out “mimi”) loves to teach science to her 10 grandkids and says she doesn’t plan on growing up herself anytime soon.

Every summer, Mimi Sylvia and her husband travel to Montana to visit their daughter and her family. Mimi Sylvia says they pack their car full of experiments and crafts. She loves to show the kids that science is fun.

Mimi and Scotty tried the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment and WOW did they make a splash. Scotty outdid his two older sisters and brother.

We were so impressed with the photo she sent, that we had to share! Keep aiming high, big guy!

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… or is it an optical illusion? Richard Zare is a world-renowned chemist at Stanford University, and he has a particular fascination with bubbles. He recently showed why the bubbles actually go down the side of the glass when you first pull a pint of Guinness.

This gentleman might have something to say about the Mentos reaction. Hmmm?

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Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, the Eepybird guys who turned the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment into art are jumping from the Internet to the mainstream media.

They appeared on David Letterman last Thursday night and on the “Today Show” Friday morning. They demonstrated their version of the Bellagio Fountains done with Mentos and Diet Coke on both shows.

Their video went viral after they posted a 3-minute video on their website using more than 500 Mentos and more than 100 two-liter plastic bottles of Diet Coke in June.

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I was in Talkeetna, Alaska when I received a call from my television producer. “Have you seen the Mentos video yet?” I asked which one she was referring to and she said, “The one with the two guys and 102 bottles of Diet Coke.” I quietly snuck out of the hotel room with my laptop - I was on a mission to find a wireless connection. Thirty minutes later (after lots of snooping), I was watching the amazing video by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz. The first time we did the Mentos Diet Coke experiment on 9NEWS in Denver was March of 2002. We featured variations on the Mentos experiment four other times (different ways to drop the candy into the bottle… warm soda vs. cold soda… brand name vs. generic). But the Eepybird.com video was a stroke of genius.

As a tribute to their video, we gathered a few of our instructors and staff from the Hands-on Science Institute and taught viewers how to make their own trigger device. We filled the back of the SUV with 52 bottles, about 300 Mentos, a cordless drill and a pile of pipe clearners. Here’s the Spangler video at 9NEWS…

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Believe it or not, research scientists have actually concluded that Diet Coke produces the best stream of flying soda (much to the joy of the Mentos Experiment enthusiasts). I received an email from Dr. Joe Maglaty, Director of Education Outreach from the Merck Institute for Science Education with this information:

I recently came across an article that you may, or may not, be aware of. In the April issue of the Journal of Chemical Education, a chemistry professor from Illinois State Univ. took on the analytical process for showing gas solubility in aqueous solution - that is, how much carbon dioxide (CO2) is released from soda (pop) using ultrasonic energy. Read the rest of this entry »

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These television news shows just can’t seem to get enough of this. I’ve been away in Alaska on a family vacation and the phone keeps ringing. Television producers are all asking the same questions… “Why does this work and why are people so drawn to posting videos on the internet?” Well, we can help out when it comes to explaining the science behind the reaction. As for the reason why people like to post videos on the internet, I’ll leave that up to you.

The latest Mentos sighting was on Good Morning America this morning.

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Let’s just cut to the chase… You have to see the Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments video at eepybird.com. These guys take the Mentos Fountain demo to a brand new level. I just took out stock in Diet Coke and Mentos candy because these creative geniuses have inspired a whole new level of soda bottle adventures. I know that many of you are already asking… are they going to be a part of the new Mentos book? I’ve contacted the “eepybird scientists” and we’ll see what happens next.

The original video went viral after it was played on VH-1’s “Web Junk 20.” Now everyone is experimenting with this own fountains and publishing them on the web. It has gotten so crazy, the videos have been mentioned on MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal Online, CNET News.com and even National Public Radio.

How did the eepybird.com scientists rig the bottles? From the info on their website, it looks like they’re using the “beads on a string” method… Read the rest of this entry »

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