Welcome! This is a website that everyone can build together. It's easy!

Diet Coke and Mentos

Calling all MythBusters fans!
Click EasyEdit to help build the uber-guide to myths!

Don't see the EasyEdit button above? Sign in or sign up.
New to wikis? Visit the Help section for tips on getting started.


The Myth

THIS MYTH WAS FEATURED IN...
Diet Coke and MentosEpisode 81: Grenades and Guts

Original air date:6/13/2007
Myth Title: Diet Coke and Mentos


Myth Description: Eating a handful of Mentos and then chugging cola can lead to a ruptured stomach.


MythBusters on the bust: Grant, Tory, & Kari


Hypothesis: No explicit hypothesis, although it was suspected that there would be no stomach rupture, since the usual Diet Coke and Mentos experiment involves dropping Mentos into a just-opened bottle of Diet Coke.


Procedure/Experimental Design: The team substituted a human stomach with a pig stomach, as it seemed a reliable analogue. They drained it of disgusting yellow juice, then furnished it with acid that was determined to be equivalent to human stomach acid. They then fitted the stomach with a tube system, set up to deliver about a pint of Diet Coke out of a two-liter bottle, then a handful of Mentos. There was no obvious expansion of the stomach resulting from this deliverance of substances. It was then checked whether the lack of any event was attributable to the presence of stomach acid or the pouring of the Diet Coke, since the geyser effect usually happens when Mentos are dropped into a bottle of Diet Coke, while it still has all its carbon dioxide. It was clearly shown that if you *pour* the Diet Coke before introducing Mentos, then the cool stuff doesn't happen, due presumably to loss of carbon dioxide.

In the second experiment, the team was careful to pour the Diet Coke into the stomach very slowly, so that there would be minimal fizz, and thus minimal loss of carbon dioxide. This, too, was insufficient to bring about significant expansion of the stomach.

At this point the myth was basically busted, and as usual they sought to "duplicate the results", i.e. actually cause the stomach to rupture. Since it was clear that the Mentos must be put into an unpoured bottle of Diet Coke, they fitted the stomach over the bottle of Diet Coke and dropped some Mentos into the bottle, so that the geyser-like fizz would go directly into the stomach. This did have the effect of rupturing the stomach.



Conclusion: Busted.
Fan Feedback

Highlights of the bust:





Best quotes by the MythBusters:






Your Scientific Method

Did the MythBusters get it right? How would you have busted this myth differently? Share your experiment design for how you would prove/disprove this myth:

  • I'm not sure the Mythbusters got it entirely right. As others have noted, the gentleman ate the Mentos and followed that with Coke, but the Mythbusters performed the experiment in the reverse of that. Would that make a significant difference? Unknown, because it was not tried.

  • I would have put the Mentos in the stomach before the Coke because that is what it showed the guy doing in the video clip.

  • Twice I've heard that someone died because of Coke and Mentos, one was the person's dad or a friend's dad was an Paramedic or something and the person died because of the combination of the two and the other one I'm not sure about it. It might be where the reaction happens that kills the person(Eating the Mentos first then the Coke) .

  • It would make more sense to put the Mentos in first but if you put the Coke first, it will lose its "fizz" which is what makes the Mentos/Coke mixture work


See Also

Related myths: Pop Rocks and Soda

Related resources and reference pages: ----




Latest page update: made by Ryft , Apr 14 2008, 8:31 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Ryft Added my opinion of the experiment performed. - Ryft

46 words added

view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags: byron kari byron kari mythbusters Diet Coke Discovery Channel discovery channel myth busters grant imahara Mentos myth busters mythbuster mythbusters myths tory urban legends urban myths
More Info: links to this page

Threads


There are no threads for this page. 

Anonymous  (Get credit for your thread)

Related Content

  (what's this?Related ContentThanks to keyword tags, links to related pages and threads are added to the bottom of your pages. Up to 15 links are shown, determined by matching tags and by how recently the content was updated; keeping the most current at the top. Share your feedback on Wetpaint Central.)
Plane on a Conveyor Belt James Bond episode regarding magnets was flawed big time 360 degrees swing set Busted? i dun think so...
Fan Death Abandoned housing area Hot Chili Cure
mcgyver myth episode Real-Life Steam-Powered Machine Gun FOUND! curving a bullet
William from Bartow County, Georgia Cable Myth Please settle a dispute!

Top Contributors