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Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid’s Activity!}

05/22/2013 By Charlene 13 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

This idea comes from Steve Spangler and it is such an easy and fun thing to do with the kiddos.  I wanted to get this posted before Memorial Day weekend for some of you that might have BBQs planned or family trips or even camping trips.

Please try this if you have children (or boys in particular) because they will really think you are the coolest ever- I mean how often does Mom blow stuff up?  (Your husband will think you are way cool too.)

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

There are a few ways to go about this that I will share, but here is what worked best for us (and I have been doing these every summer for 3 years now.)

  • One pack of Mentos- we always get the mint kind
  • One liter of Diet Cola Soda (the diet has less sugar so not as sticky to clean up.   You can use any brand you find but Diet Coke has been the best for our experiments by far.)
  • One sheet of construction paper or plain paper rolled into a tube and taped.
  • One business card or piece of cardboard.

So what you want to do is get the entire tube of Mentos into the Diet Coke at once and you will get a geyser that shoots up into the air about 10-20 feet.

The only real trick here is that for the biggest bang you want all those little mints going into the soda at once.  (Oh and get the heck out of the way once you do that.)

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

Steve Spangler actually sells a little test tube thing that you can buy for $6 and reuse over and over.  This will guarantee success and you can get some different ways for the Diet Coke to spill out too.

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

We don’t bother with that- my husband just rolls up a piece of paper and feeds the mentos inside. The key to making your own is that it needs to be the right size.  If it is too tight on the Mentos they won’t fall in and you want them to easily fall inside.  If it is too loose they will fall on the ground and not into the liter of soda.  We just roll up the paper and test it by holding it against the mouth of the open bottle of soda.  The rolled paper should fit not quite inside the mouth of the soda bottle- about 1 inch in diameter.

Next you want to take the lid off the soda and please understand this will shoot up perhaps 25 feet in the air.  So choose a spot where you won’t experience any damage and where a little pool of soda can easily be washed away.

Place a piece of cardboard or a business card on top of the mouth of the soda bottle.  Put the Mentos tube on top of that.

Carefully yank away the card and the Mentos should all pour quickly into the bottle of soda. Run!

These will shoot up about 10-20 feet in the air.  The highest is 25 feet and when we have had duds (because the tube was too big and the Mentos didn’t all fall in)- it went about 4 feet in the air.

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

It is hard to tell from the photos but a few of these got higher than the roof of the house (and there is my poor husband with a walking cast making a run for it to avoid a soda bath.)

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

 

I had a terrible time getting good shots of this but if you are the family photographer I suggest getting close ups of the kid’s faces if you can.  It is really priceless.

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

Clearly I need to take my own advice and do a few more of these exploding Diet Soda geysers to get some close up shots of my little ladies.

They LOVED this and the minute I unpacked the mint Mentos from the bag my 5 year old was clapping her hands and asking if we were going to make geysers again this year.

If you want to explain the science behind this or for more details about how this all works, check out Steve Spangler Science.

And for more fun summertime activities for the kiddos, check out my pinterest board for children’s crafts:

Exploding Diet Soda Geyser {Fun Kid's Activity!}

Filed Under: Children's Activities Tagged With: children's crafts, Diet Coke + Mentos, Exploding Diet Coke Geyser, summer activities

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Comments

  1. Joanna says

    05/22/2013 at 12:06 PM

    I would never waste Diet Pepsi like that. Can I use something gross like Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew?

  2. Charlene says

    05/22/2013 at 3:58 PM

    Joanna,

    Unfortunately you will waste the 2l of soda. In my area the 2l of Diet Coke go as low as $.99 so it is about $2.00 total for one pack of Mentos and one 2l.

  3. Nicole says

    05/22/2013 at 11:43 PM

    My son loves doing these so much, that he will spend his allowance money on Diet Coke and Mentos! He only drops a few mints. I will have to tell him that the more he drops (if he can keep from eating them :)), the higher the geyser!!

  4. Renee says

    05/23/2013 at 7:13 AM

    This looks really cool! I’m sure my kids will love it. Thanks for posting.

  5. Tammi says

    05/28/2013 at 4:16 PM

    I’d like to try this!
    Do I have to buy Coke or will a generic brand of soda work?

  6. Charlene says

    05/28/2013 at 4:36 PM

    Tammi,

    A generic brand will work but here is what I mentioned in the post:

    You can use any brand you find but Diet Coke has been the best for our experiments by far.

    I found the store brand soda didn’t go up quite as high as the Diet Coke brand but it did still work. HTH! Let me know how this goes if you try it!

  7. michelle says

    06/10/2013 at 10:41 PM

    Don’t want to think what this would do to one’s insides if consumed diet coke and then a mento! That might be something fun to watch also!

  8. Tammi says

    07/08/2013 at 5:04 PM

    We had fun with the Coke geyser with my Norway relatives! We weren’t expecting it to go so high so the cameras weren’t as prepared. Good thing I had enough to do it twice! No takers on the mint flavored Coke that was left over. My daughter works at the Learning Express at Galleria and they sell the kits and Mentos there. We used the paper that you showed and it worked great!

  9. Charlene says

    07/08/2013 at 6:59 PM

    Yeah! So glad Tammi- I had a terrible time with photos too 🙂

  10. Zuri Ross says

    09/29/2014 at 1:39 PM

    i luv it

  11. Sofia says

    07/23/2021 at 2:22 AM

    Wow so nice to here this from you I would like to do this for my kids thank you.

Trackbacks

  1. Halloween Candy Science Experiments for Kids says:
    10/21/2016 at 1:50 PM

    […] explode skyward. Just drop a few Mentos into a bottle of soda and stand back! Charlene at My Frugal Adventures explains how it’s […]

  2. Exploding Science Experiments for Kids | My Home Based Life says:
    07/12/2018 at 2:09 PM

    […] Science Bottle 2. Alka Seltzer Rockets 3. Bubble Bombs 4. Diet Soda Geyser 5. Exploding Dinosaur Mud 6. Erupting Sidewalk Paint 7. Exploding Fireworks Craft 8. Elephant […]

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I'm Charlene- thank you for stopping by MY FRUGAL ADVENTURES! I am a Mom to two little girls living in gorgeous Northern California. This is a fun place to find simple & affordable inspiration for everything from gifts to home improvement to travel to children's crafts to what's for dinner tonight! READ MORE >>>

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