http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvMI've been entertaining myself with YouTube for a couple years. My very first search was for menthos mints in Coke (or Pepsi) and this vid was the ultimate in exploding soda bottles. Titled: Diet Coke + Mentos.
After this baptism into YouTube I began to look up old TV programmes, bands (in particular those performing in Woodstock), TV dramas I missed (before IPlayer and 4OD came into being), and favorite celebrities. I'm always amazed at what one can find on YouTube. TV stations must be adding stuff from their archives since we didn't have video machines in the fifties & sixties, but I can find Shirley Temple movie clips, The Andy Griffith Show (with Ron Howard playing the young son Opie), etc.
One of my favorite channel is Simon's Cat. A must for cat owners:
http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat?blend=1&ob=4The YouTube EDU didn't send me. I was surprised about the low number of University channels. The Open University one seemed the most interesting and developed which I may explore in the future. Perhaps it will provide the chemistry behind the Diet Coke + Mentos extravaganza!
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I've noticed that some members of the 23 Thing have uploaded videos from YouTube onto their blogs. Is this breaking Copyright rules? If not, how does one do it?
ReplyDeleteHi Gigi,
ReplyDeleteHere is some of the chemistry (or is it physics?) behind the Mentos and Coke explosion:
Water molecules like to be next to other water molecules [cohesion], so anything that is dropped into the soda and disrupts this network of water molecules can act as a nucleation [growth] site for bubbles. You can also see this happen if you drop a strawberry into a glass of champagne.
Low surface tension also helps bubbles grow quickly. This is why Diet Coke creates a more dramatic effect than sugary Coke, because the surface tension of Diet Coke is lower.
The coatings on Mentos sweets contains gum arabic, a surfactant that further reduces surface tension in the liquid.