Sunday, August 06, 2006

Mentos and Diet Coke

Upon getting your hands on the first edition release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" did you immediately open it up to the final chapter to figure out who died--even before reading the rest of the book?

Then this post is for you.

On Wednesday, the ever-popular-around-our-house team known as the "Mythbusters" plunges into the mythical world of exploring what happens when Mentos candies are dropped into bottles of Diet Coke.

I did a bit a research and can confirm the effect to be covered. Examine the video at this link if your browser doesn't handle the imbedded video.)

You can wait for the show to find out why this happens....or......I can tell you now.

Mythbusters Chemistry Spoiler Warning!!!!

It is due to a process called "nucleation," in which the two products chemical makeup interact and cause the carbon dioxide gas to rapidly come out of their suspension in the coke. But you have to have the right Mentos. It's a cascade effect -- an ion exchange that takes off. My brother could probably explain it better.

Anyway it is really cool.

Read the whole article here: The 'MythBusters' Take on the Mentos/Diet Coke Craze

And don't feel disappointed. You can bet that Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman will come up with really clever and dangerous ways to make use of this newfound power for our enjoyment.

Air date: Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 8 p.m. (CST), The Discovery Channel.

I'm going to the grocery store this afternoon. Alvis and I are going to have some fun in the backyard! (If Lavie doesn't catch us.....)

--Claus

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