Sorry, would-be pranksters: freezing Mentos in ice cubes and then putting them in soda doesn’t cause the soda to fizz up. But why doesn’t it work?
It’s because when you get the Mentos wet, their surface starts to dissolve. And without a surface that’s covered with thousands of little pits, there’s nowhere for the carbon dioxide to go. Instead, you just have a gross soda. Too bad! Pretty amazing that it took this long for someone to actually try this prank, eh? [Steve Spangler Science]
Karl von Muller
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 7:39 AMso in theory it could work if you managed to instantly freeze the mentos into a cube…as it wouldnt get wet?…
Ryan Malonda
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 9:47 AMIt wouldnt get wet when you ‘instantly’ freeze it, but it would get wet once the ice starts melting
Eugene
Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 3:59 PMAlternatively, you could could coat the mentos.
Also, iirc, the trick only really worked with fresh soda, and in the vid, they let it die down a lot. If you pour the soda into a slanted glass it should stay fresher.
bozo_the_clown
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 9:17 AMI wonder if you freeze it in dried ice if it would work?
bee oh zee oh
Friday, August 21, 2009 at 10:25 AMit might… but the whole “cheesy-80′s-wedding-reception-first-dance-dry-ice-dancing-on-smoke-effect” when you added the dry-ice cubes to the soda would be an instant giveaway