Mentos, the makers of Mentos Chewy Mints, explains on its website that soda and other fizzy drinks contain a certain amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is dissolved in water in the form of tiny bubbles or carbonation. Many people assume that the geyser forms when a Mentos candy is dropped into a bottle of soda because of an acid/base reaction, just like when you mix baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and a vinegar solution (acetic acid in water) to create the ever-popular "volcano" science project. As the Mentos sinks to the bottom of the soda, it causes the quick production of carbon dioxide bubbles. These rising carbon dioxide bubbles react with more carbon dioxide still in the soda causing it to release as well. The pressure builds up and then creates the eruption or geyser of soda. Make This A Science Project: The temperature of the soda also factors into geyser size. Gases are less soluble in liquids with a higher temperature, so the warmer your soda is, the bigger your Mentos-induced geyser will All soda or carbonated drinks produce the same result, but many people have observed that the best reaction occurs when Diet Coke is used with Mentos. This is because the drink contains ingredients such as aspartame, potassium benzoate, and carbon dioxide gas, which mix with the gelatin and gum arabic in the candy. Bubbles and soda will quickly shoot out of the bottle in a high fountain. The carbon dioxide molecules attach to the surfaces of the Mentos like they did in the cup of soda. All those Mentos in a lot of soda make a lot of bubbles that rise to the surface and push the soda out in a big woosh! 19K views 1 year ago. Have you ever wondered why a Mento can make a soda to explode? The VERIFY team is here to help with this short explainer about the science behind the fizz. The premise is that the Mentos will become exposed as the ice cube melts. When the wax coating of the candy reacts with the diet soda, the drink will fizz and bubble like the classic Mentos and diet soda fountain. If you're doing the project on-purpose or else don't mind getting caught dropping a Mentos into someone's carbonated drink, you can As the Mentos candy sinks in the bottle, the candy causes the production of more and more carbon dioxide bubbles. This leads to the classic Mentos and Diet Coke eruption. The speed at which the Mentos falls through the Diet Coke can affect how large the eruption is. But in fact, according to Scientific American, the explosion is a physical reaction, not a chemical one. It all goes back to the carbonation of the soda. The reason that soda is bubbly is because it's pumped full of carbon dioxide and then trapped within a can or bottle, where the gas can't escape. nRKzG5.