The principle behind the reaction between Mentos Mints and Coke to release large amounts of gas is:

1. The structure of the Mentos candy itself.

The reason for the large amount of carbon dioxide in Coke is because of the high pressure used in the production process, and the moment the cap is opened, the pressure is reduced and thus carbon dioxide is released from the Coke. However, this process is usually slow, and a closer look reveals that most of the bubbles are generated from the walls of the bottle, because the gas usually needs to be attached to a surface or to some particles, a phenomenon known as nucleation.

If you magnify Mentos a hundred times, you can see that there are a lot of small holes in the rough surface of the sugar, and these porous structures make Mentos a good "nucleus" for gas production, and a lot of carbon dioxide can be attached to the surface of the sugar to produce. The density of Mentos is higher than that of water, so it immediately sinks to the bottom and produces gas quickly at the bottom, which helps to push out the liquid at the top.

2. Surfactant in Mentos candy. In the production process of Mentos candy often used to two substances, one is gelatin, the other is gum arabic, are natural surfactants. Water molecules have strong hydrogen bonding between them, and the resulting bubbles must break through the tightly linked water molecules to be released, thus creating an environment conducive to bubble generation.

Expanded Information

Experimental phenomena related to Mentos:

1, Coca-Cola + Mentos

Rapidly open the 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, will be about 20 Mentos mint from the mouth of the bottle poured into the bottle quickly, about 3 seconds after the bottle gushed out of the large strands of Coke column, 3 seconds after the highest column of Coke more than 50 centimeters, and then largely subsided after another 5 seconds. After the experiment, only half of the bottle of Coca-Cola remained.

2, Pepsi + Mentos

Process: the operation of the basic situation and the same experiment 1.

3, Coca-Cola + Want Want Little Buns

Procedure: Coke opened the bottle and poured a pack of Want Want Little Buns. Wait for 7 seconds and then intense bubbles appear, about 10 centimeters in height. It lasts for about 10 seconds and then subsides, with 2/3 of the Coke remaining.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Mentos