In our continuing quest to find interesting blogs and bloggers, we ran into Leah Simmers Photography Blog, where she was capturing her experience with Mentos and Diet Coke. Thanks to Leah for letting us share some her unique geyser pictures here. Check out Leah’s full blog post here. And yes, that is the Geyser Tube she’s using to launch that screaming geyser.

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Sean Moncrieff is the host of the Afternoon Show on Newtalk 106-108 fm in Ireland. This nationally syndicated show features news stories ranging from the serious to the zany… maybe that’s why they called. While waiting for my segment, I listened to the show and quickly realized how much I want to speak again in Ireland. I first lectured at the Irish Science Teachers Association in 1997 and again in 2000. I shared a few science demos and they taught me the finer points of drinking lots of Irish beer. Here’s my interview with Moncrieff.

 

 Newstalk - Ireland [11:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This story came across my Google alerts today from the crack team at ABC News… “Science of Mentos-Diet Coke Explosions Explained.” My fingers couldn’t click on the link fast enough. New research finally explains this amazing phenomenon? Here’s the opening sentence of the story…

The startling reaction between Diet Coke and Mentos sweets, made famous in thousands of YouTube videos, finally has a scientific explanation. A study in the US has identified the prime factors that drive the fizzy plumes from Coke bottles: the roughness of the sweet and how fast it plummets to the bottle’s base.

What… this is the big discovery? The Mentos chewy mints have a rough surface and they’re heavy? Well, they’re absolutely correct and they confirmed the original Mentos Eruption explanation published back in 2005. Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina said, “This was a good project for my students to study because there was still some mystery to it.” Hats off to Coffey and her students for publishing her findings and bringing peer review to the Mentos Geyser experiment.

However, it was nice to have someone else confirm our findings that either fruit or mint Mentos work equally well. “The results showed that Diet Coke created the most spectacular explosions with either fruit or mint Mentos, the fountains travelling a horizontal distance of up to 7 metres.”

It was probably most fun to read the comments on the ABC News blog. What questions or “mysteries” about the Mentos reaction would you like to ask?

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Not to be out-done by Europeans, students at Male High School in Louisville, KY, set off 300 more geysers than the previous record-breaking effort just a few months ago in Belgium. School officials thought exploding Diet Coke and MENTOS would be a great way for students to blow off a little steam before finals and celebrate a great school year. The students were recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the new official record holders with 1800 geysers. All proceeds from the event were donated to the Ronald McDonald House. Congrats to Male High School students… now who will be next in the race for a new geyser world record?

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There are literally thousands of online videos featuring the Mentos Geyser experiment, but this video is worth a few minutes of your time. It’s a first-class video produced by Mr. Delos Santos and his third grade class at Stone Ranch Elementary in San Diego, California.

Mr. Santos says that the project first started out as just a science experiment for the unit on Matter, but quickly grew into a much bigger project. But it’s not just a video, the class created their own “Fizz”ical Science website. “The largest challenge in producing a project like this is being able to engage all students in the digital learning process. Teaching them the proper technique and how to convey their message in a clear and systematic way was another challenging aspect of our project,” according to Mr. Santos.

Here’s the best part… The video has been nominated for an iVIE (Innovative Video in Education) Award! The award ceremony will take place on May 20th, and we’ll keep you posted.

BUT… We held our own screening earlier today and our staff would like to present Mr. Delos Santos’ third grade class with our own video award - a $100 gift certificate from SteveSpanglerScience.com Congratulations to the third graders from Stone Ranch Elementary!

…and nice job Mr. Delos Santos - the gift certificate is on its way.

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