As Seen on CNN

The Wall Street Journal recently did a great article on one of the newest viral videos. When you drop Mentos into Diet Coke it makes a cool explosion. There are hundreds of these videos on Youtube and some guys who made the most elaborate one (recreating the fountains at Bellagio) may be part of an ad campaign Mentos is considering. This seemed like a good idea for a story.
Yesterday, in my infinite wisdom I thought it wouldn't make too big of an explosion if we only dropped in a couple Mentos. So me and my trusty PA (remember, every bad idea gets started with someone saying "that's a really good idea") went into the breakroom with a bottle of Diet Coke and a roll of Mentos. I placed the bottle in the sink, dropped in three Mentos and jumped back. The explosion was ridiculous. I was covered in soda. Because we did it in the sink the explosion hit the bottom of the cabinet and went everywhere. The entire breakroom was covered in Diet Coke, about 3/4 of the bottle was expelled. So we cleaned the best we could and tried under better circumstances to recreate it.
We waited for this morning and sent our reporter on the roof to do the experiment. With a poncho. We actually did 3 takes and edited them all together into a really cool video. I hope some of you saw it. The problem as I explained before, the more fun something is, the harder it is to pull off. You wouldn't believe the difficulty we had in getting security open the door for us.
Anyway, everyone wants to know why it works and does it work with other sodas and candies.
From the Journal: "What's the chemistry behind the geyser? San Diego chemist Neal Langerman suggests the answer lies in the higher level of carbon dioxide in diet sodas than other sodas and the porous surface area of a Mentos. Mr. Langerman, the past chairman of the division of chemical health and safety at the American Chemical Society, said similar results wouldn't be achieved with an M&M, for instance, "which is really solid." Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide than Diet Pepsi, he says."
So the best combination is Diet Coke and Mentos. Some others might work, but not as well. By the way, the mess we made in the breakroom yesterday was the most fun I've ever had at work. I strongly recommend doing this yourself in your backyard. Beers, I think Evan and Dylan would love it.