This term in Year 3 we are learning about the destructive powers of nature, by studying volcanoes and earthquakes. We look forward to learning about how and why these natural phenomena occur and the ways in which they affect people and the environment.
To experience the primeval force of nature first hand we dropped a packet of Mentos into a bottle of normal Cola and Diet Cola to create our very own eruptions.
Once we dropped the Mentos in, we made sure to stay back, it was VERY explosive!
We learnt that a bottle of fizzy drink is full of carbon dioxide (that creates the bubbles.) The bubbles stay suspended in the liquid until the bottle is opened. When you drop any sort of object into a bottle of fizzy drink, bubbles form on the surface of the object. This is called, “nucleation.”
Add to this the fact that the surface of a Mentos is textured: it’s made up of lots and lots of tiny craters. These tiny pits create a larger surface area and essentially provide many more “nucleation sites.”The Mentos drop to the bottom of the bottle, forming lots and lots of bubbles on its pitted surface along the way. When all of this gas is released it forces the liquid up and out of the bottle in a giant whooshing geyser of sticky fizzy pop!
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