The Mentos Geyser made history once again as the star attraction at the NAEYC 2006 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the rumble of the crowd in the exhibit hall, you could hear someone from the Spangler Science booth yell, “GEYSER!” followed by a few screams and cheers of excitement. The “geyser” was actually the eruption of a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke powered by Mentos. As soon as people approached the booth and saw the mountain of soda and the display of Mentos, they knew what could happen… but most people didn’t believe that we would actually launch the geysers from behind the booth. Surprise!

Instead of just launching the Diet Coke just for fun sake, we used each opportunity to deliver a quick science lesson and followed it up by putting one of our Geyser Tube Experiments in each of the teacher’s hands. Out of the 11,000 people reported to be in attendance at the event, we personally handed out 7,000 Geyser Tube Experiments (which included a roll of Mentos). We even had a few guest “geyserists” take center stage in the booth and try their hand at a launch.

This is not the first time these educators had seen or performed our Mentos Geyser which was featured on stage three years ago in Anaheim, California at the 2003 NAEYC Conference. One teacher commented, “We’ve been doing this experiment for the past three years, and it took the rest of the world this long to catch up!”

Thanks to our partnership with Perfetti Van Melle, the people who make Mentos candy, each teacher who visited the exhibit received a free Mentos Geyser Tube experiment which included a roll of Mentos, the launching tube and instructions to explain the science behind all of the fun.

Pete Healy, Vice President of Marketing for Perfetti Van Melle, commented on the interactive aspect of the geyser experiment.

“We’re excited that Steve Spangler Science is using the Mentos Geyser experiment to demonstrate that learning can be fun. Teachers know that interactive learning is powerful””and Steve Spangler Science has been a leader in this area for years.”?

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola supplied 700 two-liter bottles of Diet Coke for the geysers that launched every two minutes over the course of the entire show. That’s right, we launched 700 bottles of Diet Coke… one at a time.

Coke.com is running a contest through the end of the year called Poetry in Motion, celebrating the fun and beauty of everyday things used in unexpected ways - just like the popular Mentos and Diet Coke demonstrations on the internet. Teachers are encouraged to post their creative class projects on coke.com.

It was easy to see that this Steve Spangler session at the NAEYC 2006 Conference was going to be a little different. The stage was filled with the usual Spangler stuff… a vacuum cleaner, eggs, a saw, bowling balls, toilet paper rolls, giant bags, an aquarium of water, a violin bow, plenty of Alka-Seltzer, potatoes, Diet Coke and, of course, Mentos. Even before Bobbi finished the introduction, there were Mentos Geysers erupting and people running!

My thanks to everyone who attended my session at the NAEYC 2006 conference in Atlanta, Georgia. You’ll find links to the experiments and activities that I shared during the session as well as a few favorites that didn’t make it into the list of 20 Cool Science Activities Under $20. Click on the link below to download a PDF of the session handout:

Steve Spangler’s NAEYC 2006 Handout

Here are a few links to featured experiments and activities from the session…

How to Make a Mentos Geyser

Straw Through the Potato

Bouncing Bubble

Vacuum Packed! - Feel the Pressure

Bubbling Lava Lamp

Sound Hose

Screaming Balloon

Sinking Soda Cans

Floating Bowling Balls

Growing Alligator

Egg Drop