Mini Mentos and Soda Eruptions

 

I have been wanting to try the mentos and soda experiment with the kids for some time.  When my grandmother visited we bought a few diet sodas for her.  There were several left over after she left.  They had been sitting in the pantry collecting dust.  I decided we would give this experiment a try using the little bottles of soda and see what happened.  That is half the fun of experiments right, mix things and see if the the result changes.  We all had fun trying the mini mentos and soda eruptions experiment out.  It was easy for my younger kids to get in and try out.  We look forward to trying the big bottle of soda next time!

 Mini Mentos and Soda Eruptions

 

 

What we used/ supplies:

 

Mint mentos

 

diet soda

 

 

What we did:

 

We sat the soda bottle on the driveway.  Next we dropped in 1-3 mentos.  You have to do this in a hurry.  AS soon as they go in it starts to fizz.

 

My kids are 2, 4, and 6yr.  They all got to drop mentos down in the mini soda bottles.  Daddy was home this afternoon as it was fun to get him out there with us to help.  He had just as much fun as the kids.

 

It was really hard to capture the reaction in photos but if you scroll through this gives you a good idea of what happened.

 

 

The kids LOVED the mini eruptions from the soda bottle. Here is a short video I took on my cell phone.

For what I understand the gas, or carbon dioxide, in the bottle of soda is released and pushed out when you drop the candies in causing the eruptions.  I call ours “mini” eruptions because we did this on a small scale with little soda bottles and only a few mentos.  To get the full effect or large reaction, use a 2 liter bottle and the entire roll of mentos for each experiment  you try. We look forward to trying it this way next time!!  To read more information on the reaction head over to Steve Spangle Science.

 

 

More fun STEM ideas from co-host below:

Ladybug Math Grid Game from Stir the Wonder
Science Experiments Using Natural Materials from Suzy Homeschooler

 

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