Temperature of Diet Coke vs. Time of Geyser
By: Mark, Brianne, Tanya, Will, Mara
Background Information
When Mentos and Diet Coke mix together, it creates a tall geyser.
The Diet Coke creates holes on the outer surface of the mentos
called nucleation sites. We wanted to find out if the temperature
affects the geyser. The gum arabic breaks the surface tension of the
soda, allowing the carbon dioxide bubbles to escape rapidly, which
creates the geyser.
Hypothesis
We think that the warmer soda
will have a shorter period of time that the
geyser goes off than the soda kept at
room temperature and the cold soda.
The warm soda's geyser will last for a
shorter time than the others
because the heat will
cause the soda to
lose carbonation and go flat.
Variables
Independent variable: The temperature of the
diet coke
Dependant variable: The time that the geyser
Lasts Constants: Amount of diet coke,
size of container, number of mentos, size of hole
Conclusion
The purpose of the experiment was to find out if the temperature of the Diet Coke
affects how long the geyser lasts. We hypothesized that the temperature of the Diet
Coke does affect how long the geyser lasts and our experiment proved that it does. A
possible error we made was not measuring the coke we poured out of the bottles.
The amount of diet coke left in the bottles could have effected how long each of the
geysers lasted. A way to improve this experiment in the future would be to make sure
that all of the bottles have the same amount of coke in them after pouring out the
extra to make room for the Mentos. So if you want to save money and keep your
sodas from going flat (lack carbonation) keep them in the refrigerator.
Experimental Design
Setup
3 – 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke
18 Mentos
3 paperclips
3 Strands of Thread
Drill
Stopwatch
Cold: The bottle was placed in the refrigerator until it became 42° F
Room Temperature: The bottle was left in a room of average
temperature until ready to perform experiment which was 78° F
Warm: The bottle was poured into a bowl, heated for five minutes in
the microwave, then poured back into original bottle now measuring
120° F
Method
1.
Drilled 1/8th inch holes in the bottle caps and the 18 mentos
2.
Tied a paperclip to the bottom of a strand of thread 7 inches long
3.
Threaded 6 mentos onto each strand of thread (three total
strands)
4.
Bottle of correct temperature placed on a board in the yard
5.
Thread cartridge through hole in bottle cap
6.
Screw the cap onto the bottle while holding cartridge
7.
Release cartridge while partner starts the timer
8.
Record data
We are testing the temperature to see if it affects the
time the explosion lasts. The temperature is being measured in degrees
Fahrenheit and the time is being measured in seconds.
Abstract
The main goal of this experiment is to determine whether
the temperature of the diet coke affects how long
the geyser lasts. We are testing three diet coke
bottles at cold, room temperature, and warm and
recorded the length of the geyser effect that
results from the reaction. We found
that the colder bottle had more of a
reaction with the mentos than the
room temperature bottle. We also
found that the warm bottle had no reaction