Not a totally whiteboard related post, but in a few weeks time I am going to be trying out the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment with my group of Primary Teachers. We've talked about it quite a bit over the year, but haven't actually tried it out yet.
I was looking into release mechanisms to allow me to set off the reaction from a safe distance. I saw some good ideas at the ASE conference in Jan. One thing that you can buy is the Geyser Tube, which is available from gadget stores such as
Firebox for about a fiver.
Put the mentos in the tube, then pull the string and stand back. The pin will pull out and release the mints into the Coke.
Try this as part of a Sc1 investigation - test different brands of cola, types of fizzy drink etc. There's a Mythbusters clip out there that tries to explain what is going on.
If you haven't seen what happens when you do this, then check out the
Eepybird website, for the chaps that started the internet phenomenon.
I'm hoping to get some photos and movie footage when we do finally do this. I'll be sure to shareif I do ;)
Labels: mentos, science
