Introduction: Mentos and Diet Coke Rocket
Launch a 2 liter over your house, No promises!
Also please use ccaution when performing this experiment there is always a possibility of injury or damage to property, please launch in wide open area with pleanty of space in all directions and never attempt to launch in the direction of another person as flying 2 liters can hurt!
Step 1: Purchasing!
Go to you local gas station or grocery store and purchase as many materials desired, for one launch you need only:
1- 2 Liter Bottle of Diet or Diet Caffeine Free Coke(Pepsi does not work as well)
2- Mentos(Mint not fruit flavored)
Step 2: Preparation
Chew 1 mentos for approximately 10 seconds
Remove Cap from 2 liter
Press mentos into the center of the cap of the 2 liter
Press whole mentos into cap on top of chewed mentos so that it sticks
Replace Cap
Step 3: Shake and Launch!
Shake bottle so that mentos and Diet Coke mix
Hold Bottle by top with one hand place around the neck so that the bottle is upside down
Swing Bottle over head and slam on ground sideways
Step 4: Liftoff
If slamming process went correctly, the cap of the 2 Liter will hit the ground and break off, diet coke will then be forced out of the neck creating thrust forcing the bottle off the ground in an upward motion. This thrust is greater than the weight (Weight=Mass*acceleration due to gravity) of the bottle(Yes weight is a force) so it propels the bottle in an upward fashion at a great rate of speed reaching a terminal velocity that gives it the capability to reach heights of 40+ feet!
Step 5: Video Proof
Don't think it works well here's some proof!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkkOUPYNs7I
58 Comments
11 years ago on Introduction
anybody get hurt---seems dangerous the way You do it
Reply 3 years ago
no georion - they dont get hurt
7 years ago
will this project be appropriate for a chemistry project?
15 years ago on Introduction
Is this a chemical reaction or a physical ?
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Both!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
actually its a physical reaction only because nothing new is being created
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
if this is "just" a physical reaction, how come the bottle is propelled up?!?!
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
The bottle is propelled up.... mate.... that IS a physical reaction! Can't believe that there is NO chemical reaction happening somewhere in the bottle though. Cheers Royce www.funshow.com.au
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
It is all physical the mentos it creating an area for the carbonation buble to form fast enough that it builds presure enough to lunch the bottle
14 years ago on Introduction
sweet!!!!!!!!!!!
16 years ago
actually i think your method would not work. the chemicals play a small part in the reaction. the most important part is the outside of the mentos. there are tiny little craters on the outside of the mentos where the bubbles can form and rise up when they are heavy enough. its is important to put them in whole cause i dont think it would be possible at all to launch it over a building chewed up.
Reply 16 years ago
Yes it does work as I mentioned before I've done it, with comparable results! Only one, not both of the mentos is chewed up, this provides enough of the chemicals for the reaction and pleanty of places for the CO2 to form bubbles. Good information though, you must watch MythBusters.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
so do i and i watched Adam do something like this on the show. It was also funny when he put a bottle of coke on the lathe and it exploded
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
k, thats not the only thing, caffine, i think Potassium Benzoate, Phosphoric Acid, and also Aspartame. they all contribute a bit to the reaction, and also the ingredients in the mentos. using non caffinated isnt practicle because it will lower your 'power'. i wonder if making a checker board desing on a mento work work well, seeing that that would create more surface area.
14 years ago on Introduction
weight is not a force. Gravity is the force that acts on weight
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
No, weight is a force. Gravity is a field that causes weight.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Neither is a force, according to Einstein "Gravity is a warpage of space and time". Weight is just the increased or decreased 'apparent mass' of an object. (Weight = Mass * Gravity). On Earth, gravity = 1, so mass and weight are equal. =D
14 years ago on Introduction
somebody!!! can u help me?? i just want 2 know what is the used of this reaction in our life?? plizz help me...
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
great fun and a big mess
14 years ago on Introduction
The bottle will never reach terminal velocity because it isn't falling like 10kms of a cliff