Tag - mentos and diet coke experiment

Staff Spotlight on Copy Editor Debbie Leibold

Q: Tell us a little about who you are…
A: Let’s see… I’m definitely not a scientist, I’m not in a band, I’m not an ultra-creative graphic designer, I’m not on Ellen, I haven’t been featured on YouTube, I rarely blow things up.  My life is pretty boring compared to some of the people I work with.

I’m a mom, wife, dog walker, former high school English teacher, volunteer, taxi driver, sports fan (especially my kids’ sports), non-profit fund raiser, Duke grad, music lover, golfer, and avid reader. I have lived in Colorado most of my life and am passionate about education and the outdoors. I serve as a Trustee on a non-profit Board (the John Austin Cheley Foundation) that raises money to provide summer camp experiences for kids around the country.

Q: What do you do at Steve Spangler Science?
A: I edit Steve’s awesome books, specifically Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes and Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste.  I also review the catalog before it goes to print and many of the …

Science Fair 911 – Demonstrations vs. Experiments

By Blog Editor Susan Wells

When I was growing up, my school did not do a science fair. I had never been to a science fair until my oldest was in kindergarten. All I knew was it had something to do with baking soda volcanoes.

Fast forward several years, and I now organize the science fair and encourage kids to get involved. Through Steve Spangler Science, I also help parents, teachers and students with their projects. Science fair and volcanoes may go hand in hand, but the ever popular demonstration is not actually a science fair project.

A science fair project asks a “what if” question, which leads to a variable and eventually finding an answer or at the very least, a big discovery. A science demonstration, like our volcano, is used to illustrate a science concept.

Another extremely popular demonstration is quickly taking over the volcano as a classic science fair project – dropping Mentos into Diet Coke. This is also a demonstration.

But can you take a demonstration and turn it into a science fair project? Absolutely. All you need to do is C3 it. The three C’s stand for Change,
…

Grandma and Grandson Take Mentos to New Heights

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!

Do Bubbles in Guiness Go Down?

… 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?

EepyBird Guys Take Their Show on the Road

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.