Mentos the Fizzmaker

The internets provide and endless stream of useless video clips, experiments, and funny wastes of time. The recent craze has been combining Mentos and Diet Coke. The result is, well, explosive. The sugars and carbonation react with one another to create a whole lot of fizz. You can also do this by putting salt in a coke, though the effect is not as dramatic and could be argued as to the aftertaste that leaves you with. The less popular combination is Altoids in a Diet Coke can.

Charlie Gibson and Bill Nye "the Science Guy" showed viewers on Good Morning America about a month ago what the result of the combination was. Recently the video of the "Bellagio-style fountain" has become a very popular video all around the internets – even making it onto NPR's morning edition. Radio might not be the best venue for a video, but they did direct listeners to the website. The carefully choreographed fountains of Diet Coke is an experiment in timing and patience, and the pair pulled off the experiment well as they are fully outfitted in lab coats and protective eyewear.

Boston College students didn't take the same safety precautions when performing their own experiment shown below in today's video. The Mentos and Diet Coke mixture often presents itself in the gyser style eruption; it's good to know that local students have discovered its propulsion capabilities as well.