Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Plop, Plop - Fizz, Fizz

If any of you ever make it out this way (Portland, Oregon) and you have young kids with you, a great place to spend the day is at OMSI, which stands for "Oregon Museum of Science and Industry". We purchased a family membership to it at the beginning of summer, and man-oh-man has that ever been a great deal. For a little more than what it would have cost to go a single time, we are able to go as many times as we like for a whole year. So far I think we've gone at least six times and perhaps a few more than that. Lots of hands on experiments to do and plenty of fun things to occupy the mind with.

Last week we went to go see a planetarium show and as we were waiting for the next one to start, we looked outside and caught a glimpse of a guy setting up what I instantly recognized as the "Mentos meets Soda" experiment. Anthony had never herd of doing that before and Lisa, although knowing about it, had never seen it done in person.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, I''ll give you the quick version. Mentos are a candy of sorts. In my humble opinion they taste kind of like chalk dust mixed with peppermint and then compressed into a gacky tasting tablet. I truly think the following experiment is all they're good for, but I digress...back to the story. Take a large plastic soda bottle (high acid content) then drop in about a half a dozen Mentos (High carbon dioxide content) then run like hell!


The photos below will give you a pretty good visual of what to expect.


32 comments:

Desert Songbird said...

Hey now! You just dissed a candy made in my Motherland, Jeff. You must pay for that one!

none said...

The science channel said the roughness of the candy makes the soda give up it's carbonation quickly.

I want to try it.

Dana said...

Love the OMSI, and I'm not even a kid!

Jeff B said...

Songbird- They could be made in Willy Wonka's factory, wrapped in 14k gold and placed between the breasts of Camron Diaz and I still wouldn't eat them!!!

Hammer- Yah, the science dude told us that too. Definitely give it a go.

Jeff B said...

Dana- That's the mark of a great museum, when it can hold the attention of young and old and all of us that fall in between.

Schmoop said...

I've seen videos of that. So cool. And I, am a HUGE fan of planetariums. Great choice in season passes Jeff. Cheers!!

Jay said...

I've never tried Mentos, but I would be afraid they might do that same thing in my stomach that they do in those soda bottles. LOL

Utter Basketcase said...

COOL!

Actually someone was just telling me about the soda bomb the other day! What a coinkadink!! :-)

Must check it out now!!! I love things like that! xx

Nicole P said...

Oh sounds like a cool place.
We have taken the kids to several science and other type museums in Washington DC. They are really interesting and fun!

Sandee said...

Yep, it's fun to watch. There is a video somewhere in YouTube on this subject. Fun stuff. Have a great day and Labor Day weekend. :)

Jeff B said...

Matt- The planetarium show was a bit cheesy this time, which really surprised me. Others have been quite good.

Jay- Just keep your mouth open, then you can have projectile vomit.

Giggle- I can soo see you dong this!

Nicole- D.C. is an amazing place to go. It's been years since I've made it there though.

Sandee- I didn't think about searching YouTube for a video to go along with this.

Akelamalu said...

I saw this 'little' experiment on a TV programme just last week - it's amazing, if you don't get caught in the rainfall!

Kevin Wecker said...

Does the Mentos taste better after dissolved in the soda?

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

A great video of two guys doing this to music can be found on youtube ...I did a post on it HERE

Anndi said...

Sticky!

(shhh.. yeah, I'm still alive)

Cinnamon Girl said...

Hey that place looks familiar....

How the heck did you avoid the rain? And Mentos are funky. Addictive but funky. The whole time I eat them I am think, WTF is up with this?!?

Jeff B said...

Akelamalu- Hence the "run like hell" instructions!

Kevin- Ha...good one!

Bond- I'll come by later to check it out. Thanks for the link.

Anndi- Wahoo... you're alive! Great to see you again.

Starlight- Do you mean the Oregon rain or the soda rain? I say WTF about them too, but its in reference to why anybody in their right mind would eat one of those icky things.

Dianne said...

when my son was younger I had membership to the American Museum of Natural History and the Aquarium at Coney Island. Hours and hours of fun.

I still go on my own a lot.

I was part of the audience in the street outside the Ed Sullivan theater when Letterman had this guy doing it in the street! Fun!!

We tried it in our driveway LOL

Drew quite a crowd.

j said...

My kids BEG to do this all the time. Who wants to clean up after all that stickiness?

Sounds like fun.

Jen

buffalodick said...

The Museum of Science and Industry we go to in the Midwest is in Chicago. They have a German WWII U-boat you can tour. They have many other incredible sights to see, too.. I loved to go here as a kid, and as an adult! Mentos in pop.. I miss Mr. Wizard on TV...

Ron said...

OMG...that's freaking HYSTERICAL!

I honestly have never heard of this experiment, but DAMN...NOW I WANT TO TRY IT!

Gosh...can you imagine what those candies do to the inside of our stomach when they mix with our acids?

And I'm totally with you, Jeff...Mentos taste like peppermint chalk. And they're so HARD.

Hey, your family membership to the museum sounds like a great deal. We have a million museums in this city, which I probably haven't been to since I was a kid. And I some of them are even FREE!

Ok...I'm off to the drug store to purchase some Mentos and Soda.

Wish me luck, buddy!

Mel said...

*chuckling*

Already did the experiment without warning ON the patio.

*snickering*

Shoulda had photos..LOL
Himself took off like a bat outta hell. ROFL
'Course, I oughtahave warned him when I dropped the candy in, huh?

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

CrystalChick said...

I have been hearing about this experiment alot lately but never saw it done. COOL photos!!
Sounds like a neat place for the whole family.

Cath said...

Hmmm. Yeah. Messy but kidlets will love it. My kidlets tried it - wrong sort of mints. Now you have given me the ingredients - and how messy it is - I think I'll pass. ;0)

Sandi McBride said...

And you haven't lived till you walk back to a jail cell to put one more prisoner in to find them throwing coffee creamer in the air and setting it alight with matches they've managed to smuggle in! Our guns went in the gun boxes in the sallyport, the only ones allowed weapons deep in the cell blocks were the prisoners...I won't include lol, it really wasn't that funny! I'm working on my story...when I can drag myself out of the garden. And I'll have an award for you at my place tomorrow, please do come by and pick it up after noon...
Sandi

Jeff B said...

Dianne- I'll bet you had every neighborhood kid for blocks around gathered by the time you dropped the first Mento.

Jennifer- It does make one heck of a mess!

Buffalo- This one has the "USS Blueback" you can tour. It's a small submarine, pretty cool.

Ron- You live on the twenty-something floor of your building right? Oh man, this could get ugly.

Mel- Bwahahahaha The sneak attack mode eh?

Crystalchick- It definitely is. Tends to make you feel like a kid again.

Crazy Cath- You could always do it at the neighbors house right??? Just don't tell them I sent you.

Jeff B said...

Sandi- Those prisoners can get pretty creative with all that time on their hands. Ans thanks in advance for the award. I'll be sure to come by.

Vodka Mom said...

now, how can I work this into our kindergarten curriculum? I can SO totally do it.

Travis Cody said...

Make science fun and kids won't even realize they are learning!

Gene Bach said...

Glad you had a great time. Now I think I'll buy Mathew a chemistry kit for Christmas!

San said...

That's what I call explosive research!

Science museums are so cool.

Jeff B said...

Vodka Mom- The kids would git a huge kick out of watching it. The janitor...not so much!

Travis- Bingo!

Gene- Perfect! I can hear him now, "Hey dad, what happens when you mix these two chemicals together...oops!"

San- Bada Bing! nice one.