Monday, January 17, 2011

Explosions

Coca Cola Trial 1

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Diet Coke Trial 1

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Coca Cola Trial 2 (Sorry it's cut off at the end)

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Diet Coke Trial 2

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.




Scientific Process

Problem/Purpose

What will react more, Mentos in Diet Coke, or Mentos in regular Coke?

Hypothesis

Mint Mentos will react more in Diet coke more than regular Coke because Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide, which creates more bubbles, so that it will make a bigger explosion. 


Experimental Design

Materials
o    3 bottles Diet Coke
o    3 bottles Coca Cola
o    6 packs of mint Mentos
o    95 inch stick
o    Buckets

Variables
o    Constant
·         Flavor of Mentos
·         Amount of Mentos
·         Temperature outside
·         Elevation of the coke bottle
·         Weather
·         Amount of Coke
o    Independent Variable
·         Type of Coke (Diet vs. Regular)
o    Dependent variables
·         Size of explosion
·         Amount of Coke left in the bottle
o      Procedure
 First we went out and gathered all of our materials.  Then we brought both the bottles outside in the snow. We set the Diet Coke in a bucket so it would not fall over on a flat surface in the snow. After that, we opened the Diet Coke bottle and taped a tube onto the top and inserted the Mentos. One of us stuck our finger in the tube to keep the Mentos from going into the coke. Meanwhile, the other one of us stood next to the bottle holding a 95 inches stick to measure the explosion. One of us removed our finger from the tube and we watched as the Diet Coke shoot up into the air and using the measuring stick we calculated how high it went. Then we repeated with the Coca Cola. We did both of the experiments two times.



Observation





We did the experiments two times with the Diet Coke and two times with the Coca Cola and we did a test trial with both. In our test trails we tried to get the Mentos all into the coke at once by stringing them one by one on tape. That didn't work because the first time only half of the tape dropped into the Diet Coke bottle and the rest hung out and clogged the bottle so the explosion went two inches high. The second time was with the Coca Cola and it was a tragic blunder because the Mentos didn't stick to the tape and they all fell off before we put them into the bottle. Only about two reached the bottle and the only reaction it made was a little fizz. 

After that, we did a little research on how other people have done the experiment.  We came up with the idea to use a tube with something clogging it to stop the Mentos from going in.  We cut a little hole in the tube and I put Madeline's finger in the hole while I inserted the Mentos. That way all the Mentos went in at once. When we did the Diet Coke using the tube method the Coke shot up 80 inches (approximately) into the air and because of a slight draft coming from the south the Coke went to the side and came down on me. Now you probably are wondering why I was standing that close to the explosion. It was because I was holding a 56 inches stick to measure the height of the explosion. We did not expect it to go that high that is why 80 inches high is an approximate height.  Then we did the Coca Cola using the tube method and a longer stick.  We did the exact same thing that we did with the Diet Coke, but it only when 64 inches. 

Just like our hypothesis stated, the Coca Cola when less high then the Diet Coke.  That reason was because the Diet Coke had more carbon dioxide to fill in for the high fructose corn syrup.  Also, the reason why the Mentos reacted to the Coke is because as the Mentos began to dissolve in the Coke, it released gelatin and gum arabic. Gum arabic a natural ingredient used to make many gummy candies. When these chemical are mixed with caffeine, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and carbon dioxide, which are all ingredients of Diet Coke, it makes a jet-like reaction. Now some of these chemicals are not in Coca Cola which is why it didn't explode as much as the Diet Coke. Then we did both the explosions again using the tube.  The results were about the same. The Diet Coke when 76 inches and the Coca Cola went 56 inches.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was correct.  The Diet coke had a bigger explosion than the Coca Cola.  The average height of the Diet Coke was 78 inches and the average for Coca Cola was 60 inches.  Also the amount of Coke left in the bottle for Diet Coke had an average 2.9375 cups, and the Coca Cola was had an average amount of 3.375 cups left.  Therefore, because Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide to make up for high fructose corn syrup, it went higher.  Thus there was less left in the Diet Coke bottles.  Now, remember to never eat Mentos with Diet Coke, or any other soda with carbon dioxide. 

Narrative

Madeline and I had some ups and downs for our Coke and Mentos project.  Though we had a great time, we had some conflictions in our process.  Our project used almost all sections in the core competencies rubric.  We used the problem solving core competency to solve our input problem of the Mentos.  Then it worked very well when we did the tube.  We also used creativity and innovation by creating a different way to input the Mentos by using a tube and finger.  We also collaborated and communicated with each other and teachers to share ideas and facts.  In addition, we used a fair amount of technology throughout the project when we made graphs, taped videos, and used blogs.  For college and career readiness, we mastered the scientific process!  We are very proud of project and how great it worked.  We learned to move on and learn from our mistakes. 
               
Goals for Next Project
               1. Do a better job logging time
2. Do more research before we start our experiment
3. Use more out of school resources

Bibliography
"Soda and candy eruption - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_Coke_and_Mentos_er
Spangler, Steve. "Mentos Diet Coke Geyser at Steve Spangler Science." Science Projects Experiments, Educational Toys & Science Toys . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000109>.
"Why do mentos make diet coke explode?." Food Allergy Symptoms | Living with Food Allergies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://babyandkidallergies.com/diet-coke-mentos.php>.

7 comments:

  1. I think that you both did a really good job presenting! I think that you both made good eye contact and were nice and loud,too. Overall I think that you put a lot of work into this and it paid off!

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  2. Great job with the presenting. Sounds like it was a lot of fun doing this project.

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  3. I really liked your presentation and how the videos are right on your blog. I also liked watching the video's. In all I think this is a really cool project.

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  4. Great job, Mai! I thought that you made great eye contact while presenting, and looked confident. I thought the idea of the project was cool, and I loved how you recorded the explosions. I think you put a lot of work in it, it looked nice!

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  5. That was a cool project idea. I really liked it.

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  6. I really liked the idea of your project and I've always wanted to actually see it happen. Great Job presenting!! Also great scientific write up!!

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  7. I think you both did really well presenting because you knew so much about the subject, so you could answer every question. The poserboard looked like you spent a lot of time on it, too.The pictures are so detailed. Overall, Great job!

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