How to Make a Mentos Bomb

You may have seen the popular Mentos video, Diet Coke + Mentos experiment, or heard rumors of Mentos geysers, fountains, rockets, and bombs. The Diet Coke and Mentos rocket works, and this article tells you how to do it. Be sure to do this in an open area where nobody will be upset with you - it is messy and somewhat dangerous.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 liter bottle of diet Coke
• One pack of regular Mentos candy

1. Buy some bottles of Diet Coke and some Mentos The Freshmaker candy. Using Diet Coke and Mentos are key. It's possible that other highly carbonated sodas will work, but Mentos is the only candy known to have this effect. The Mentos have a rough surface that causes the carbon bubbles to come out of solution quickly. You don't need a full pack of mentos per 2 liter diet Coke, but the more you use, the more explosive it will be.

2. Find an open area like a wide open field or abandoned parking lot. The Mentos Rocket has potential to fly high in the air and travel hundreds of feet. This is somewhat dangerous and I recommend doing it on private property if possible.

3. Remove the outer wrapper from the Mentos. If your Mentos have an inner shiny wrapper sleeve, leave that on. If they don't, you will want to wrap your Mentos in tape. This is because when you drop uncovered Mentos into the Diet Coke, it will fizz immediately and you won't be able to get the cap back on. Use at least 5 Mentos, but up to a full sleeve is possible.

4. After you've dropped the sheathed Mentos into the Coke, quickly screw the cap back on. This is an extremely dangerous step. You are basically now holding a highly pressurized bomb in your hands and you should be very careful. Do not hold onto this bomb for long, it is possible that if the cap is screwed on tightly enough, and you used enough Mentos, it could blow in your hands. You should be safe if you properly sheathed the Mentos.

5. Shake the bottle up, generating lots of bubbles, fizz, and pressure. Then loosen the cap just a little bit until you can start to hear the fizz coming.

6. Throw the bottle at the ground, away from yourself and your spectators. Alternatively you can throw it high in the air, away from yourself and spectators. When the bottle impacts the ground, the pressure will escape from the top of the bottle, rocketing it high into the air.

Tips & Warnings

• The whole process of dropping the sheathed Mentos in, to the point when you throw the bottle shouldn't take more than 30 seconds.
• Again, this is somewhat dangerous, be careful and use common sense.
• Be sure to have some kind of covering on your Mentos or you won't be able to screw the cap back on in time.

[amysmarts]

on 10/8/2009 Great article on how to make a mentos bomb. Sounds like something for kids and grown up kids to do. Thanks. 5*