Take two small cups or bottles, and a piece of mesh, like window screen. Put the soda in one container, put the mesh on top, put the mentos on the mesh, put the second container on top. Seal the containers with glue, epoxy, whatever... THEN put the contraption in your hot resin. At the appropriate moment, just turn the whole thing upside down, the soda flows through the mesh and onto the candy. Bob's your uncle.
Got two problems one it’s two small scale and I think the Coke is too little for the amount of mentos you did have the right idea with a double balloon oh, and try putting the water balloon around the Coke bottle and then squeeze it into the balloon. That way you keep most of the bubble goodness lol 😅
Hey there! You know how leaving coke out in a cup makes it go flat fair on quickly? You are essentially speeding up that process! Next time, you might attempt a larged needled syringe full of coke to both pop the balloon and inject with coke, so it is as fresh as possible. This way, fresh coke is hitting ballooned mentos. Good Luck! Always love these little tests and seeing what comes of them.
Along the same line what if you used a basting/ injecting syringe like what you would use to inject flavour into a roast to inject coke into a ballon full of mentos.
@@ms.c.parker8137 Probably not. The Mythbusters tested why this reaction happens and it's partly due to the surface texture of the Mentos and the ingredients combing with the ingredients & carbonation of the Coke.
Coke in a cup goes flat because the CO2 is released by the bubbles and esscapes into the atmosphere. Coke poured into a tied off balloon won't go flat quicker because the CO2 is trapped in the balloon. Also the smoothness of the inside of the balloon will cause less bubbles to form, so less CO2 will even be escaping the coke. Fun fact: Champagne works in a similar way, so to produce the signature bubbles in Champagne, true champagne glasses have intentional imperfections on the inside of the flute to cause more rough edges to ensure more bubbles are formed.
You probably need to use two clear balloons and a freeze plug. Freeze water in a short straw, fill one balloon with coke, fill the other with mentos. The heat from the resin will melt the ice and allow the coke to fall down the straw to the mentos on the bottom. You should get the off-gas in the upper balloon.
@@jw4718 he said to freeze water in a short straw. Basically they are saying that he needs a plug between the two items. Using water would work because we know the heat from resin will melt the ice. I'm just not sure if it will melt it fast or even enough to make enough coke to fall at one time...but that's why we experiment!
Adam Savage answered a question on his channel recently and said, if i’m remembering correctly: “failure isn’t just an option, it is a necessity.” Good on you for carrying on trying and experimenting, I hope you keep going with it!
You were the closest with the second setup. The problem is that you popped the balloon below the cup the mentos were in so the coke escaped down into the resin. If you had pushed through the cut in half bottle to pop the ballon, then the coke could only escape into the bottle where the mentos were sitting.
I like this one too. The second I think was the closest, but yeah pop the balloon through the cut bottle so the coke goes up into the bottle with the mentos instead of sealing it up! Keep trying!
Another similar reaction could be baking soda and vinegar which dosen't rely on the bubbles already being there for the reaction. This reaction works no matter what. Also do test runs without resin to get it to work first. Then try it in resin.
For me, you gave me some great, great ideas. I couldn’t figure out how to make a copy of a crystal vase that has a pattern inside and outside = silicone mold. And then make copies from resin. There will be an inflated ball inside the silicone. The wall thickness of the hollow vase is 20 mm. Height - 300 mm. Diameter - 150 millimeters.
I think the reason the mentos and coke reaction happens is because of all the tiny, microscopic cracks and bumps on the surface of the candy, so any time the resin gets to the mentos first, it covers those up so it can't react. with the last one, i think maybe the mentos got trapped between the inner balloon and the outer balloon, giving the coke time to drain out the side? this sure is a hard experiment to do successfully...
I think that @Danny.._ has got it here. Firstly, the nucleation sites are being covered up and giving the dissolved carbon dioxide nowhere to form bubbles, but secondly (and I think more importantly) the method used for filling the Diet Coke balloon (the syringe) would be removing the dissolved carbon dioxide from the coke, leaving it "flat" and without any "fizz". It's a lot of work, but if the Diet Coke balloon could be filled by stretching the mouth of the empty balloon over a vacuum chamber and pulling a vacuum. This way the inside of the balloon (where the Diet Coke will go) would only be exposed to one atmosphere. Then, the Diet Coke can be poured into the stretched balloon without exposing it to the low pressure of the syringe and the turbulence of passing through the fine needle. This way it should retain more of that dissolved carbon dioxide to be used in the experiment proper. It could be quite finniky to set up, but I imaging that using a syringe is also quite finniky.
@@Milgeratothe easiest way to fill the balloon would be to blow it up with air, put the mouth over the top of the bottle, then turn the bottle. Usually works with water. There are several other issues though. Latex balloons are coated in powder to keep them from sticking together, this powder would initiate some of the reaction and reduce carbonation. Then there’s the issue that the resin is hot, and dissolved CO2 reduces significantly with heat. A balloon is not a sufficiently pressurised environment to prevent that. Even the slowest cure resin is going to get hot enough to knock out most of the carbonation, so I don’t see a way for this experiment to work.
One idea you might be able to try is filling a small clear plastic sealable container about half way with coke, put the container in the cup you are going to fill with resin then glueing a magnet to a mentos, and putting the second magnet on the outside of the container of coke and the resin cup, holding the mentos above the coke, then seal the Coke container and fill the resin cup. Once the resin is ready remove the magnet on the outside and the mentos should drop into the Coke and explode the inner small sealed container! 😄👍🏻
how hot does the resin get? i wonder if you could put some sort of sealed plastic container with tow chambers inside - one for mentos, one for coke, and have them be separated by a wall of wax or something that could melt from the heat of the resin 🤔
An interesting idea of the wax dividing wall. Quite clever. Another thought - does it even need a dividing wall? A magnet attached to the Mentos could suspend it at the top of a clear chamber and gravity could keep the Diet Coke at the bottom of the chamber. An air gap between the Diet Coke and the Mentos should be sufficient to stop the two from prematurely reacting with each other. Then, when the surrounding resin had reached the desired curing point, the holding magnet could release the suspended Mentos to fall down into the (still carbonated) Diet Coke. This way the outer container doesn't need to be penetrated at all, keeping the experiment contained.
Been thinking a while over this project?? Can of cola in a ballon, menthos on top.. Inside the ballon… Maybe a clear adult ballon😅 Mentos went Down and coke up🤷🏼♂️ In this version they might stay on top (Bottom up hollow) Place some arround too? You might need a new thicker poker point… Maybe they mix and burst the ballon after contact AND RESIN NEXT??? Try it out🤓 If no great fizz from Hole, have a improviced shaker tong handy
I was mesmerized! This is great fun! I'm always thinking about how kids can relate to videos. I think some of your videos could be used to teach the scientific method. Question, Research, Hypothesis, Experiment, Data Analysis, Conclusion, and Communication. I think kids would love your videos where you do experiments, so get them invested in one, teach around it and they will surely learn! Thanks, Ben & Nicole! Take care and stay safe!
Get a really tall clear cylinder, put a 16 oz coke in the bottle in there, glued to the bottom. Have a mentos in the bottle opening. After pouring the resin, use a stick to pop the mentos in from the top. That's as good as we can think of considering the shape of the bottle is important to the reaction. Remember it's a physical reaction, not a chemical one.
I do CPU and computer component resin casting and would love to see you try some of that! I suspend little wires and such to make it look like a 3D clear "PCB"
Awesome to see the full experiment! I don’t know anything else you could try to make this work… but I suddenly wondered if baking soda and vinegar might get the reaction you want with resin, since baking soda is a powder, vinegar is a liquid… and when they interact I think it is similar to the mentos with Coca Cola, maybe?
Suggestion for filing balloon with soda without losing too much carbonation: 1. Refrigerate bottle of diet coke 2. For balloon over entire top of bottle (like a waterballoon over a faucet) 3. Wait for CO2 gas coming off the soda to inflate balloon (maybe encourage it along with a little shaking) 4. Carefully tip bottle to pour soda into now inflated balloon. 5. Twist/tie off balloon
What about casting two hollowed halves put the Diet Coke in the bottom, put a thin layer of paper and then glue the top on with the Mentos after it hardens flip it over when the Diet Coke soaks through the paper it will hit the Mentos. That will also allow it to be fully cured before combining them.
Rice paper or tissue your right on that one even if it fully cures but let’s remember heat will flatten the coke but this might work if don’t fast enough with the right steps it’s gonna be serious trial and error error
I like the fact that you show your oopsies as well as your successes. A lot of creators will cut out their failures or just delete the video if it doesn't work out but I like that you show that things don't always go as you plan them. Nick Zammeti does the same thing, whether it's pass or fail. Even though it didn't work out it was still an interesting video so keep 'em coming.
Adhere a tack to the inside of a balloon or puncture through, then cap it off enough with low temp wax that if you tightly tie off on the inner balloon it won’t pop. Fill both balloons appropriately When the resin heats up enough it will heat the metal tack that will melt the wax popping the inner balloon if its tight enough and there is enough in the inner balloon to ensure the balloon tears upon contact. Thinner balloons are easier and the point you poke makes a difference so try for sides as much as possible as they are thinnest usually. You could also now that I think about it, put something metal inside and when you know it’s ready (and stuck in place) turn on a powerful magnet directly at it to drag the metal quickly through and out. Just be careful with this option
You get the biggest A for effort!! It was also very entertaining. The only thing I can think of is that resin is coating the mentos before the coke can react. That being said, it should have worked on the last try then. I'm stumped, but then I'm a nurse, not a scientist!! Ben, no one can say you both didn't try. ❤
2:00 To fill any balloon with any item or liquid (that fits, of course), the easy way is the “vacuum box” method. There are easy and hard ways to make a “vacuum box,” but some don’t even require a vacuum. The principle to design something that works for you is to devise a way to open the balloon without anything in it. Stretch the mouth over a lip, inflate the balloon (most people do this by putting the balloon in a box with two holes, one for the balloon mouth and the other to vacuum the air out from around the balloon, thus inflating an empty balloon with negative air pressure in a sealed container, but it can be achieved by simply stretching the balloon in multiple directions with the mouth also open), then insert desired contents, and pinch off the lip to keep them inside while tying.
You could glue the mento to the side of the cup where all the liquid went anyway. Id love to see an egg made with rust. It can be beautiful whdn used in art.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Halfway up the cup to glue the Mentos. Then when you pop the coke balloon the coke will rise to the level of the Mentos and react.
You Can get BIG suringes 500ml ! 😜 Maybe spare some fizz.. Issue was that the pink ballon was without presssure, cannot pop… Scale up a little🤓 If you still are stubborn😃 But the Way coke goes up and mentos Down??🤔 Thats hard to deal with
Ben, pour a resin blank and drill a cavity for the mentos. Then fill a balloon with coke and glue it on top of the cavity upside down (so the bulge is on top of the cavity and the knot is facing upwards...no leak risk). After that's set, then mix up your resin, pour it, then pop the balloon. Angle the poker so it faces down in the direction of the cavity drilled.
Its a water balloon. It won't fit over the mouth of a coke bottle without snapping. That's why you needed a hose attachment on your tap to fill them up with water.
@tristangold2772 there are other sizes of water balloon. The ones I got for my kids fit on the end of our water hose with no problem, and inflated to the size of my fist or so easily.
Love the experiments! Don't stop, just keep trying. I had some thoughts on this one... first, the diet coke is less dense than the liquid resin before it "kicks". second, mentos are more dense and will sink. I think that if you put the mentos on some kind of resin stick-raiser they'll be in the prime spot when you pop the diet coke balloon and will give you some kind of effect. Thanks again, this channel puts a smile on my face.
Try wedging a thin strip of resin into the cup over the balloon that you've glued the mentos to. Do it so the mentos face the balloon. This way you can pour the hot resin in still and when it cures on top pop the balloon and the coke should be surrounding the mentos. Love the show bud, keep up the awesome work!
The coke and mentos experiment can be done with all soda as soda is carbonated water + additional flavor and depending on where you live preservertives coke works the best because the higher carbonation. (It is the gas In it that makes the reaction all it takes is 1 Oz of the carbonation and 1 mentos)
Well, sometimes things don't go as you planned or hoped, what matters is that you either learned something, had fun doing it, or both! I applaud your efforts for what you tried to do and what you hoped would happen. A+ for effort and for giving it a go!
I would recommend trying the second experiment again, but this time go in on a downward angle. Shove the hot poker through the half bottle first and then into the balloon. This way even if it doesn't pop the balloon when you pull the nail out it'll let the coke flow into the chamber with the mentos or hopefully split the balloon enough to allow the mentos to fall in.👍
For these types of experiments you should use Nitinol shape memory metals to pop the balloons inside the resin - when it gets hot it returns to it's normal shape so it can be coiled up and pointed at the balloon to pop it when it gets to a certain temp range.
two plastic shot glasses glued together, with a film of gladwrap separating the mentos in the top glass, from the coke in the bottom glass, maybe the heat from the curing resin with shrink the glad wrap divider causing the mentos to fall DOWN into the coke below and POP! (i dunno im just spitballing here, but dang i enjoyed this video!) Youre both great ppl and its a joy to watch your vids! Love em.
Diet Coke and mentos reaction is mainly caused by the microscopic porous texture on the outside of mentos rather than a huge chemical reaction so it very hard to get it to work in a confined hot space like that. Its a fun idea though and I’m sure you’ll figure something out :)
Hi Ben, I had to fill a water balloon with red wine. Here is my tip pour your liquid into a pump soap dispenser screw on the top and pump away. You will need to hold on tight to the mouth of the balloon whilst pumping. Hope you and your family are all well. Keep up your amazing work 😊
Enjoyable experiment. Those silicone mats really stand up to rough handling. The comments has so many great ideas for furthering the experiment. The branching off to bicarb and vinegar is great with the advantage of the heat from the resin actually enhancing the reaction plus easier to refine your results before the resin stage, don't forget the balloon over the contained experiment to workout the amount of carbon dioxided produced.
So idea if you attempt this in the future fill one balloon with mentos and have that in the resin then use a syringe with the Diet Coke and inject that into the balloon or put a balloon with mentos into the coke balloon and try and pop both at once maybe that would work
GLUE THE MENTOS TO THE SIDE OF THE MIDDLE OF THE CUP. THEN WHEN YOU POP THE BALLOON THAT'S WHERE THE COKE WILL BE. And make a 1/8 in hole in the side of the cup and put a piece of packaging tape over it so you don't have to heat the nail it'll have less resistance when popping the balloon the couple have to be smooth to do that.
My best idea is hard to explain, but ill try. Fill one cup with clear resin. Once it cures, remove it from the cup, and cut the top 3rd off. That is a "plug" for the actual test. Possibly sand the sides doen a tad to give space for resin to encapsulate the plug. Glue a bunch of mentos to the bottom of that plug. Then fill a ballon with coke, and glue it to the bottom of a cup. Pour hot resin into the cup with the ballon, filling it about 2/3 up, and drop the resin plug with the mentos in. Since the resin cures top to bottom it should encase the plug and capture it. Then pop the balloon. It seems the coke lifts to the top of the resin, so it will rise to meet the mentos, theoretically of course. Hope that makes sense, and also hopefully Ben sees this!
Regarding putting things into balloons, if you make a small vacuum chamber open at one end and stretch the neck of a balloon at the open end, you can create a vacuum in the chamber, the balloon will "inflate," and you can put whatever you like into the balloon with minimal effort.
The mentos were blocked by two balloon layers on the last experiment. In order for it to work, the mentos need direct access to the diet coke. Can you put the mentos in the balloon with the diet coke and chill the balloon? Will that slow the reaction down enough to get everything set up? Once in the resin, one pop and hopefully the reaction you are looking for. Just a thought. Great effort tonight!! Thanks for making us chuckle with some A-hole comments, 😂. ☺️💜
I was writing “do the mentos need to be in a balloon or container at the start? What if you epoxied them to the outside of the coke balloon instead?” Then I saw the setup for experiment 3 and cheered! Sadly gravity defeated you. But I think three clustered together (like a trefoil but with a natural gap in the centre) could work. The needle goes through the central gap and, best case, touches all three, worst case, gets only one. As the liquid comes out wherever you pierce the balloon it looks like you’ll need to have the mentos right in the path of the hot needle. And the coke rises as soon as it escapes, so can you put the mentos back nearer the top of the balloon (like the first couple of tries) and pierce higher in the cup so it flows over them? I love your “what if?” and determined attitude. If anyone can do this, you can! x If it still fails, try capturing a kombucha fountain in resin instead! (Mostly joking: that could put resin on the ceiling. 😬)
Hey was thinking of the best way to get full effect try putting mentos in a black balloon and and use magnify sunlight to pop balloon after harden or as its setting up
Try this set up the balloon with the coke as before. With a mortar and pestle, grind the mentos into a fine powder. Then with some water. Mix into a paste then when the resin is ready, with a large gauge needle inject into the balloon. However test the paste by injecting into water, to see how well the mentos past will flow through the needle.
A couple thoughts: 1. The balloon seemed to pop best when you did it right after adding the hot resin, so that could be worth trying again 2. The mentos not going where they need to be seems to be the main issue, so what if you glued them to the inside of the cup where you know the coke is going to come out? Thanks for the video!
1. use a large syringe to consistently get the coke in the balloon. 2. The eruption reaction actually is caused by the mentos. The sugar surface is rough at the microscopic level. The rough texture passes through the carbonation and will agitate as it passes the the bottom of the bottle. That is how the reaction works.
If you really want a reaction, get a full bottle of coke, and a cup. Dump out a small amount of the coke, so that there’s some air in the top of the bottle. Then very carefully glue a couple of mentos to that inside portion of the bottle (or even just the neck of the bottle) where the air is WITHOUT letting the coke touch the mentos. Then get your cup, make a hole at the bottom of the cup (big enough to just fit the cap of the bottle into), then carefully put the top of coke bottle through that hole and glue the cup in place so that it’s attached to the plastic neck of the coke bottle with no chance of leaking when the cup is filled. It should look like a coke bottle with its nose going part way through the bottom of the cup. Then place some paper or thin plastic over the open cap of the bottle. It should be something that will give way to pressure but mostly prevent resin from leaking into the coke bottle when the cup is filled. Fill the cup with resin. Once it starts to harden give the coke bottle a little shake so that the coke sloshes against the mentos, and you should have yourself a coke bottle exploding into some hardening resin 👌
I think the best option is the last one but done a bit differently. In resin the coke goes up bc of density but inside the balloon it goes down and all your mentos was up at the bottom of the ballon (bc you put it upside down in the cup). So maybe put the balloon full of coke inside the other one and then put the mentos so when attached to the cup where the resin is going to be poured the coke will go down and have direct and fast contact with the mentos. Or just do the same as before but attach the balloon the other way around lol Sorry if it sounded confusing but I hope you can understand hahah
Awesome Video Ben & Nichole Please don't give up try it again another time hopefully more ideas for another attempt will come along and i hope you are all well.🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Ok I waited until the end to say this. Guaranteed to work. Do the balloon with the half cut bottle glued to the top full of mentos. Then out it in a bigger cup so that you can put the balloon/cap sideways in the bottom of the cup. Once that's all set up puncture the cup/bottle/ then balloon giving the coke nowhere to go but into the cut bottle instantly filling it with coke and hitting the mentos. Just make sure that poker is hot enough to go through both the cup and cut bottle quickly. Can't wait to see this!!!
Try using uv resin to glue a mentos to a string or fishing line. Then run it above the balloon filled with coke. The coke will float, hiting the mentos. Or glue the mentos to the side of the cup and pop the balloon once the resin hardens right above it.
I've got an idea or 2. use one of the cups you just used and fill it half way with soda, then cut a large section of balloon to seal off the top of the cup. strap the mentos to the center of your balloon cut-out, then place it over the top of the cup. make sure the cup is airtight. then place this cup inside of a larger cup, and you are set. wait until the epoxy hardens completely then flip it over. its very important to not let the mentos touch the epoxy. this will create a barrier around the mentos that would prevent an immediate reaction.
I always love seeing your experiment videos. Like you said, it's fun not knowing what will happen. Try gluing some bare Mentos to the inside of the cup in that "goldilocks" ring where the coke gathers right at the 12 minute mark of your video. Hopefully the Mentos won't fall to the bottom of the cup, and they'll be submerged in Coke.
Ben, i have some thoughts. Try gluing the cup to the ballon but dont glue it completely. Leave gaps so the baloon might split up into the cup. Or, if you can coat the mentos in something that disolves like celulose or gelatin then you might be able to drop the mentos in the coke long before you need to. You can also try and scale it up so you can the ballons to stretch more and therefore split better. You could try dropping the mentos in on top of the balloon and since the coke raises so fast maybe it will hi t the mentos.
I think the option with a rigid "container" for the mentos above the balloon is the right way to go actually, but since you pierced the balloon on the side, the "mentos container" only protected them from the coke as they were nicely sealed in a prison of plastic and a non-pierced balloon "veil". You'd have to get a relatively thin "mentos container" (as in, made from a thin plastic), and use the needle from a descending angle so that you pierce through the "continer" and the upper part of the balloon underneath. Some resin would enter the mentos compartment, but probably not as much as coke. Some resin has to enter anyway, or chances are the coke won't go up enough.
The entire time I’ve been watching this, I’ve been saying the same thing over and over: Crush the Mentos!!! If you crush them into a powder, put that into a second balloon (or balloon in a balloon) and fill it with air, not only should it pop, but you should get that instantaneous reaction you want because they’ll mix in a fraction of a second. I’d love to see if that helps 😊
Try curing some resin first in a cup, then gluing mentos to the cured resin. Then create a new cup of resin with some diet code in a balloon, then place the cured resin on top of the resin that is curing, then when ready pop the balloon. The cured resin will assist holding the diet coke, which will mix directly with the mentos.
"When it gets really hot and steamy I'll give it a poke" "I need to go right through the hole in the A." 🤣😂🤣😂What a fun experiment. The coke seems to rise to the top so could you put the balloon full of coke in and pour the resin. Then once the resin starts to harden push some mentos in so they "float" in the resin above the balloon?
I played the part of the Painter in the world’s most re-run Mentos TV commercial! It was produced in Phoenix, Arizona 15 years ago and has sold Mentos around the world and is still on the air!
I'm glad you thought of the idea to just glue the mentos to the side of the balloon, that thought had crossed my mind as well. But.... I think I can do you one even better. What if..... You pour about a 2 or 3 inch deep base layer in the cup, and maybe used a shot glass as a "void" in the center, so that when it cured, it would have a hollow pocket, right? Then.... After that base was hardened, you put 4 or so mentos in that cavity you made. Fill your diet coke balloon up and have that glued around the lip of the mentos chamber, and after that set... Fill it up and pop it.
Glue the mentos to a tooth pick glue the tooth pick to the cup add the resin and pop the balloon! The coke seems to want to go up to the top so if you have the mentos on a tooth pick about half way then you know the coke will hit it
I believe 2nd one would possibly work with a couple changes. 1: A bigger cap that would almost cover the top of the balloon filled with coke. 2: only tack glue the cap onto the balloon with just a 3-4 spots (not glue the entire rim of the cap to the balloon). 3: poke the balloon at a upper angle going downward. Also try to poke the balloon as close as you can to the rim of the cap. See the reason why I said to just tack glue the cap on a few areas instead of gluing the whole cap to the balloon is for a reason. When you go to poke the balloon at an upper angle going down the balloon would give inward because it's not completely glued down to the cap. This will allow th coke to then shoot up into the cap area where the mentos is at. Well I theory that's how it works in my head at least.
Try two pours. First with nothing in it but something to make a cavity. Fill the cavity half way with coke. Attach the mentos to the bottom of cling film and put it over the top of the cavity. Pour the resin on top and wait for it to become taffy then shake!
In fact, this common phrase is known and spoken all over the world. It sounds especially ironic in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, India, China. It is already a classic.
Great Video. At about the 10 min mark you had the mentos in the plastic bottle glued to the top of the balloon. I think that one would have worked had you stuck the poker through the plastic cup with the mentos and then into the balloon. The coke would have had no where else to go but into the mentos. Thanks for all the great videos and projects.
I liked the final method placing the coke balloon inside of another balloon with the mentos. I can see that your main issue may in fact be the location of the mentos in the larger balloon. If you place the coke balloon in the larger balloon first, and then put in all the mentos so that when the balloon with the coke is popped, the mentos will be in the best location to be able to get full contact with the coke.. Also it appeared with the resin that its possibly your initial low low poke into the balloon was a bit too low in the resin that hadnt firmed up like the higher parts. If you can come up with a way of poking the balloon without melting the plastic cup as much, you may then be able to hold more resin, and coke. I enjoyed the experiments. hopefully the resin wasnt super expensive for your testing thus far.
Maybe try putting the coke in a balloon as before and glue to the bottom again then cut a piece of small diameter acrylic to fit above the ballon ( horizontally fitting from one side of the cup to the other) then glue some mentos on the acrylic, fill with resin as usual. Hopefully the coke will still rise as before. Good luck👍
I believe the heat or the liquid quality of the resin might alter the surface characteristics of the mento that fascilitate the reaction. The heat may also dissipate the co2 from the soda. In an enclosed space im sure it’ll just reintigrate but idk.
The balloon(s) always act as a barrier between the mentos and the diet coke. I think you need a different method that doesn't have something between them. Something like sitting the mentos on top of a playing card that you can slide out so they FALL into the coke. Another thing to consider would be crushing the mentos into a powder. Might be more you could do with it in that form
OMG! You made me so nervous. It was like watching a suspenseful movie lol. I have no idea about this but i wonder if you popped the balloon more on the top (where the air is in the balloon) instead of the side... the coke might stay in better and try to escape from the top. It will want to go up, instead of going out the hole in the side of the cup... maybe.... Just a thought. I hope you'll try it again. Best lines: "It looks like a virus" and "through the a hole". LOL
Could you use wax to coat the mentos? Then put them in a plastic bag or larger modified balloon with the coke. When the resin heats up it would melt the wax and let the them mix.
How about this for a way to try it. Take some 2 core electrical cable and connect one end with a very thin nichrome wire between them that will heat up if you connect a battery to the other ends of the cable. Place that inside the mentos balloon, ensuring the nichrome wire is touching the balloon skin and there is some air in the mentos balloon to ensure a pop. This is then put inside the diet coke balloon, again passing the wires from the inner balloon right though to allow you to connect the battery once everything is tied. In theory, once the resin is at temp, you connect the battery, it pops the mentos balloon inside the coke balloon, without popping the coke one. This give a few moments for the reaction to start before you pop the coke balloon with the heated needle to allow the reaction to be seen in the resin.
What if you stick the mentos to the inner circumference towards the top of the cup. So when you pop the soda balloon the soda will rise to the mentos. Should prevent the result of basically a density column where the mentos and soda can’t mix with each other.
Maybe glue toothpicks stuck through the Mentos in a + over the balloon right where the Coke usually gathers so the do not sink? Maybe use the bottom of one of the small bottles over the Mentos as well to keep an air gap between the Mentos and the resin until the Coke is released, though if you can find something more clear it would look cooler if it works. That little cup you have the balloon sitting on before the final pop would work great for my idea.
You were on the right track with the 2 balloons. However, I think you have to blow the one with mentos up so the balloon will peel back from them. Then I would repeat your first pop idea, but pop the coke one first and then the mentos. Hopefully it will cause the desired result
Your idea of glueing the cap will work. Make these changes... Glue a dowel to the cap that pokes through the surface of the resin. When curing starts, you will hold this to stop the cap from moving. Then, get your needle hot, and poke through the cap first, and then into the balloon from inside the cap. The soda will flood into the cap and displace the resin if you're fast enough. This gives you mentos, soda and air inside the cap. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.
My take away is there just isn't enough air in the balloons to get them to pop out of the way like you need. I feel like that last one should have worked if there was enough air to make the balloons really explode. The other thing is that your heated poker is great for easing into the side of the cup, but it's probably doing the same thing to the balloon too. Really need a way to pop the balloon as explosively as possible. Edit to add: what if you place a thumbtack into the hot resin near the balloon and then use the poker to push that into the balloon Great episode, really enjoyed it and my daughter loved watching it with me
The testing vlog episode ➡️ ua-cam.com/video/G1pRv4VjYSk/v-deo.html
Take two small cups or bottles, and a piece of mesh, like window screen. Put the soda in one container, put the mesh on top, put the mentos on the mesh, put the second container on top. Seal the containers with glue, epoxy, whatever... THEN put the contraption in your hot resin. At the appropriate moment, just turn the whole thing upside down, the soda flows through the mesh and onto the candy. Bob's your uncle.
Maybe place the Mentos below the Diet Coke, so that the fluid falls down onto it ??? 🤷❤
Got two problems one it’s two small scale and I think the Coke is too little for the amount of mentos you did have the right idea with a double balloon oh, and try putting the water balloon around the Coke bottle and then squeeze it into the balloon. That way you keep most of the bubble goodness lol 😅
Hey there! You know how leaving coke out in a cup makes it go flat fair on quickly? You are essentially speeding up that process! Next time, you might attempt a larged needled syringe full of coke to both pop the balloon and inject with coke, so it is as fresh as possible. This way, fresh coke is hitting ballooned mentos. Good Luck! Always love these little tests and seeing what comes of them.
Would crushing up the mentos make it still work?
Along the same line what if you used a basting/ injecting syringe like what you would use to inject flavour into a roast to inject coke into a ballon full of mentos.
@@ms.c.parker8137 Probably not. The Mythbusters tested why this reaction happens and it's partly due to the surface texture of the Mentos and the ingredients combing with the ingredients & carbonation of the Coke.
@TheSalemCrow larger surface area so it should be more reactive
Coke in a cup goes flat because the CO2 is released by the bubbles and esscapes into the atmosphere. Coke poured into a tied off balloon won't go flat quicker because the CO2 is trapped in the balloon. Also the smoothness of the inside of the balloon will cause less bubbles to form, so less CO2 will even be escaping the coke.
Fun fact: Champagne works in a similar way, so to produce the signature bubbles in Champagne, true champagne glasses have intentional imperfections on the inside of the flute to cause more rough edges to ensure more bubbles are formed.
You probably need to use two clear balloons and a freeze plug. Freeze water in a short straw, fill one balloon with coke, fill the other with mentos. The heat from the resin will melt the ice and allow the coke to fall down the straw to the mentos on the bottom. You should get the off-gas in the upper balloon.
Freezing the coke will kill the fizz which is what is needed for the coke and mentos reaction. 🤷🏼♂️
@@jw4718 they didn't say to freeze the coke?
@@jw4718 he said to freeze water in a short straw. Basically they are saying that he needs a plug between the two items. Using water would work because we know the heat from resin will melt the ice. I'm just not sure if it will melt it fast or even enough to make enough coke to fall at one time...but that's why we experiment!
I’d say to also run some tests on everything without the resin first just to see how it’s supposed to work. Then try it in the resin.
Brilliant!
Adam Savage answered a question on his channel recently and said, if i’m remembering correctly: “failure isn’t just an option, it is a necessity.”
Good on you for carrying on trying and experimenting, I hope you keep going with it!
the amount of money being spent on the wasted resin is probably a huge drag on trying too many times!
If I “go through the a-hole” 😂😂😂😂
😂 What did Ben just call us?
I thought the same. I got a giggle out of it 😂😂 💜
Was coming to say best comment ever. I laughed when I heard him say go through the a hole haha 😂
I was thinking the same thing. 😂😂😂
The A hole.
You were the closest with the second setup. The problem is that you popped the balloon below the cup the mentos were in so the coke escaped down into the resin.
If you had pushed through the cut in half bottle to pop the ballon, then the coke could only escape into the bottle where the mentos were sitting.
I like this one too. The second I think was the closest, but yeah pop the balloon through the cut bottle so the coke goes up into the bottle with the mentos instead of sealing it up!
Keep trying!
I came here to type almost those exact same words.
Or flip it so the coke falls into the mentos instead of the mentos falling into the coke!
I didn't think the mentos would come out of the balloon. When you pop it , the balloon will just shrink down around the mentos.
1:12 can you make a cavity in the resin put the mentos by itself in the cavity then suspend a balloon with Coke and do it that way
Another similar reaction could be baking soda and vinegar which dosen't rely on the bubbles already being there for the reaction. This reaction works no matter what. Also do test runs without resin to get it to work first. Then try it in resin.
"I'm gonna have to use this syringe to pump in the coke." You said that so casually, like you knew what you were talking about. 😂
At some point he also said he will insert his poker straight through the A hole 😂 (of the Gooday, mate! Cup)
For me, you gave me some great, great ideas.
I couldn’t figure out how to make a copy of a crystal vase that has a pattern inside and outside = silicone mold.
And then make copies from resin.
There will be an inflated ball inside the silicone.
The wall thickness of the hollow vase is 20 mm.
Height - 300 mm.
Diameter - 150 millimeters.
I think the reason the mentos and coke reaction happens is because of all the tiny, microscopic cracks and bumps on the surface of the candy, so any time the resin gets to the mentos first, it covers those up so it can't react. with the last one, i think maybe the mentos got trapped between the inner balloon and the outer balloon, giving the coke time to drain out the side? this sure is a hard experiment to do successfully...
I think that @Danny.._ has got it here. Firstly, the nucleation sites are being covered up and giving the dissolved carbon dioxide nowhere to form bubbles, but secondly (and I think more importantly) the method used for filling the Diet Coke balloon (the syringe) would be removing the dissolved carbon dioxide from the coke, leaving it "flat" and without any "fizz". It's a lot of work, but if the Diet Coke balloon could be filled by stretching the mouth of the empty balloon over a vacuum chamber and pulling a vacuum. This way the inside of the balloon (where the Diet Coke will go) would only be exposed to one atmosphere. Then, the Diet Coke can be poured into the stretched balloon without exposing it to the low pressure of the syringe and the turbulence of passing through the fine needle. This way it should retain more of that dissolved carbon dioxide to be used in the experiment proper. It could be quite finniky to set up, but I imaging that using a syringe is also quite finniky.
@@Milgeratothe easiest way to fill the balloon would be to blow it up with air, put the mouth over the top of the bottle, then turn the bottle. Usually works with water. There are several other issues though. Latex balloons are coated in powder to keep them from sticking together, this powder would initiate some of the reaction and reduce carbonation. Then there’s the issue that the resin is hot, and dissolved CO2 reduces significantly with heat. A balloon is not a sufficiently pressurised environment to prevent that. Even the slowest cure resin is going to get hot enough to knock out most of the carbonation, so I don’t see a way for this experiment to work.
No Bueno
One idea you might be able to try is filling a small clear plastic sealable container about half way with coke, put the container in the cup you are going to fill with resin then glueing a magnet to a mentos, and putting the second magnet on the outside of the container of coke and the resin cup, holding the mentos above the coke, then seal the Coke container and fill the resin cup. Once the resin is ready remove the magnet on the outside and the mentos should drop into the Coke and explode the inner small sealed container! 😄👍🏻
how hot does the resin get? i wonder if you could put some sort of sealed plastic container with tow chambers inside - one for mentos, one for coke, and have them be separated by a wall of wax or something that could melt from the heat of the resin 🤔
An interesting idea of the wax dividing wall. Quite clever. Another thought - does it even need a dividing wall? A magnet attached to the Mentos could suspend it at the top of a clear chamber and gravity could keep the Diet Coke at the bottom of the chamber. An air gap between the Diet Coke and the Mentos should be sufficient to stop the two from prematurely reacting with each other. Then, when the surrounding resin had reached the desired curing point, the holding magnet could release the suspended Mentos to fall down into the (still carbonated) Diet Coke. This way the outer container doesn't need to be penetrated at all, keeping the experiment contained.
@@Milgerato i like that idea, but it would have to be a very strong magnet to hold it from so far away
I haven't seen the full episode yet but i am really excited to see how this experiment Worx out
Been thinking a while over this project??
Can of cola in a ballon, menthos on top.. Inside the ballon… Maybe a clear adult ballon😅
Mentos went Down and coke up🤷🏼♂️
In this version they might stay on top
(Bottom up hollow)
Place some arround too?
You might need a new thicker poker point…
Maybe they mix and burst the ballon after contact AND RESIN NEXT???
Try it out🤓
If no great fizz from Hole, have a improviced shaker tong handy
👍😊
I was mesmerized! This is great fun! I'm always thinking about how kids can relate to videos. I think some of your videos could be used to teach the scientific method. Question, Research, Hypothesis, Experiment, Data Analysis, Conclusion, and Communication. I think kids would love your videos where you do experiments, so get them invested in one, teach around it and they will surely learn! Thanks, Ben & Nicole! Take care and stay safe!
Gold star for trying. 🥇
Bet this isn’t the last we see of this. Good luck and continue with your experiments.
Get a really tall clear cylinder, put a 16 oz coke in the bottle in there, glued to the bottom. Have a mentos in the bottle opening. After pouring the resin, use a stick to pop the mentos in from the top.
That's as good as we can think of considering the shape of the bottle is important to the reaction. Remember it's a physical reaction, not a chemical one.
I do CPU and computer component resin casting and would love to see you try some of that! I suspend little wires and such to make it look like a 3D clear "PCB"
Got somewhere i can see images?
Dude, inflate your lower ball with carbon dioxide,
top cola.
Awesome to see the full experiment! I don’t know anything else you could try to make this work… but I suddenly wondered if baking soda and vinegar might get the reaction you want with resin, since baking soda is a powder, vinegar is a liquid… and when they interact I think it is similar to the mentos with Coca Cola, maybe?
Might be a great idea as they give off carbon dioxide, a salt and water.
Thanks Mate, yeah I think that would work 😊
Suggestion for filing balloon with soda without losing too much carbonation:
1. Refrigerate bottle of diet coke
2. For balloon over entire top of bottle (like a waterballoon over a faucet)
3. Wait for CO2 gas coming off the soda to inflate balloon (maybe encourage it along with a little shaking)
4. Carefully tip bottle to pour soda into now inflated balloon.
5. Twist/tie off balloon
What about casting two hollowed halves put the Diet Coke in the bottom, put a thin layer of paper and then glue the top on with the Mentos after it hardens flip it over when the Diet Coke soaks through the paper it will hit the Mentos. That will also allow it to be fully cured before combining them.
Rice paper or tissue your right on that one even if it fully cures but let’s remember heat will flatten the coke but this might work if don’t fast enough with the right steps it’s gonna be serious trial and error error
@@bethwiles859 the idea is the only fresh resin is the tiny amount holding the two precast half’s together.
I like the fact that you show your oopsies as well as your successes. A lot of creators will cut out their failures or just delete the video if it doesn't work out but I like that you show that things don't always go as you plan them. Nick Zammeti does the same thing, whether it's pass or fail. Even though it didn't work out it was still an interesting video so keep 'em coming.
Adhere a tack to the inside of a balloon or puncture through, then cap it off enough with low temp wax that if you tightly tie off on the inner balloon it won’t pop.
Fill both balloons appropriately
When the resin heats up enough it will heat the metal tack that will melt the wax popping the inner balloon if its tight enough and there is enough in the inner balloon to ensure the balloon tears upon contact.
Thinner balloons are easier and the point you poke makes a difference so try for sides as much as possible as they are thinnest usually.
You could also now that I think about it, put something metal inside and when you know it’s ready (and stuck in place) turn on a powerful magnet directly at it to drag the metal quickly through and out.
Just be careful with this option
I think this is a very good idea!
You get the biggest A for effort!! It was also very entertaining. The only thing I can think of is that resin is coating the mentos before the coke can react. That being said, it should have worked on the last try then. I'm stumped, but then I'm a nurse, not a scientist!! Ben, no one can say you both didn't try. ❤
I know you will figure this one out. I was laughing at Nicole staying so far away. Smart girl.❤
Thanks Connie 😊😂
2:00 To fill any balloon with any item or liquid (that fits, of course), the easy way is the “vacuum box” method. There are easy and hard ways to make a “vacuum box,” but some don’t even require a vacuum. The principle to design something that works for you is to devise a way to open the balloon without anything in it. Stretch the mouth over a lip, inflate the balloon (most people do this by putting the balloon in a box with two holes, one for the balloon mouth and the other to vacuum the air out from around the balloon, thus inflating an empty balloon with negative air pressure in a sealed container, but it can be achieved by simply stretching the balloon in multiple directions with the mouth also open), then insert desired contents, and pinch off the lip to keep them inside while tying.
You could glue the mento to the side of the cup where all the liquid went anyway.
Id love to see an egg made with rust. It can be beautiful whdn used in art.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Halfway up the cup to glue the Mentos. Then when you pop the coke balloon the coke will rise to the level of the Mentos and react.
You Can get BIG suringes 500ml ! 😜
Maybe spare some fizz..
Issue was that the pink ballon was without presssure, cannot pop… Scale up a little🤓
If you still are stubborn😃
But the Way coke goes up and mentos Down??🤔 Thats hard to deal with
Yeah definitely 😊
Ben, pour a resin blank and drill a cavity for the mentos. Then fill a balloon with coke and glue it on top of the cavity upside down (so the bulge is on top of the cavity and the knot is facing upwards...no leak risk). After that's set, then mix up your resin, pour it, then pop the balloon. Angle the poker so it faces down in the direction of the cavity drilled.
This was super fun to watch, even if it didn't go the way you wanted. Thanks for another amazing video, Ben!
Stretch the mouth of the balloon over the top of the diet coke bottle then you hold it on and tip the bottle to fill the balloon.
Its a water balloon. It won't fit over the mouth of a coke bottle without snapping. That's why you needed a hose attachment on your tap to fill them up with water.
@tristangold2772 there are other sizes of water balloon. The ones I got for my kids fit on the end of our water hose with no problem, and inflated to the size of my fist or so easily.
Use a balloon pump under water... Duh... 😂
Dude, inflate your lower ball with carbon dioxide,
top cola.
Stretch the balloon over the tip. You just said that. Nice.
Love the experiments! Don't stop, just keep trying.
I had some thoughts on this one... first, the diet coke is less dense than the liquid resin before it "kicks". second, mentos are more dense and will sink. I think that if you put the mentos on some kind of resin stick-raiser they'll be in the prime spot when you pop the diet coke balloon and will give you some kind of effect.
Thanks again, this channel puts a smile on my face.
You win some, you lose some. It's always about learning! Thanks for sharing!
Try wedging a thin strip of resin into the cup over the balloon that you've glued the mentos to. Do it so the mentos face the balloon. This way you can pour the hot resin in still and when it cures on top pop the balloon and the coke should be surrounding the mentos. Love the show bud, keep up the awesome work!
Things happen in life, so long as you enjoy what you do that is all that matters! Looking forward to your next experiment!!
The coke and mentos experiment can be done with all soda as soda is carbonated water + additional flavor and depending on where you live preservertives coke works the best because the higher carbonation. (It is the gas In it that makes the reaction all it takes is 1 Oz of the carbonation and 1 mentos)
Well, sometimes things don't go as you planned or hoped, what matters is that you either learned something, had fun doing it, or both! I applaud your efforts for what you tried to do and what you hoped would happen. A+ for effort and for giving it a go!
I would recommend trying the second experiment again, but this time go in on a downward angle. Shove the hot poker through the half bottle first and then into the balloon. This way even if it doesn't pop the balloon when you pull the nail out it'll let the coke flow into the chamber with the mentos or hopefully split the balloon enough to allow the mentos to fall in.👍
Exactly!
For these types of experiments you should use Nitinol shape memory metals to pop the balloons inside the resin - when it gets hot it returns to it's normal shape so it can be coiled up and pointed at the balloon to pop it when it gets to a certain temp range.
"Go through the "A" hole" LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!
"when it's hot and steamy, give it a poke"...I was wondering if he was doing that with such subtlety on purpose..lol
I could see what was going to happen in all of those. Keep up the great work Ben, you'll get there 😊
two plastic shot glasses glued together, with a film of gladwrap separating the mentos in the top glass, from the coke in the bottom glass, maybe the heat from the curing resin with shrink the glad wrap divider causing the mentos to fall DOWN into the coke below and POP! (i dunno im just spitballing here, but dang i enjoyed this video!) Youre both great ppl and its a joy to watch your vids! Love em.
Diet Coke and mentos reaction is mainly caused by the microscopic porous texture on the outside of mentos rather than a huge chemical reaction so it very hard to get it to work in a confined hot space like that. Its a fun idea though and I’m sure you’ll figure something out :)
Hi Ben, I had to fill a water balloon with red wine. Here is my tip pour your liquid into a pump soap dispenser screw on the top and pump away. You will need to hold on tight to the mouth of the balloon whilst pumping. Hope you and your family are all well. Keep up your amazing work 😊
Enjoyable experiment. Those silicone mats really stand up to rough handling.
The comments has so many great ideas for furthering the experiment.
The branching off to bicarb and vinegar is great with the advantage of the heat from the resin actually enhancing the reaction plus easier to refine your results before the resin stage, don't forget the balloon over the contained experiment to workout the amount of carbon dioxided produced.
Uploaded 46 seconds ago? First comment? Crazy experiment? Count me in!
If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try ... try and try again.
Been loving your videos for some time now. Please keep at it!
So idea if you attempt this in the future fill one balloon with mentos and have that in the resin then use a syringe with the Diet Coke and inject that into the balloon or put a balloon with mentos into the coke balloon and try and pop both at once maybe that would work
GLUE THE MENTOS TO THE SIDE OF THE MIDDLE OF THE CUP. THEN WHEN YOU POP THE BALLOON THAT'S WHERE THE COKE WILL BE. And make a 1/8 in hole in the side of the cup and put a piece of packaging tape over it so you don't have to heat the nail it'll have less resistance when popping the balloon the couple have to be smooth to do that.
Thanks Andrew 😊
My best idea is hard to explain, but ill try.
Fill one cup with clear resin. Once it cures, remove it from the cup, and cut the top 3rd off. That is a "plug" for the actual test. Possibly sand the sides doen a tad to give space for resin to encapsulate the plug. Glue a bunch of mentos to the bottom of that plug.
Then fill a ballon with coke, and glue it to the bottom of a cup.
Pour hot resin into the cup with the ballon, filling it about 2/3 up, and drop the resin plug with the mentos in. Since the resin cures top to bottom it should encase the plug and capture it. Then pop the balloon. It seems the coke lifts to the top of the resin, so it will rise to meet the mentos, theoretically of course.
Hope that makes sense, and also hopefully Ben sees this!
The coke rises and the mentos sink.
Glue a few mentos on the top of the balloon. Poke the balloon right next to the mentos.
Love your videos.
Regarding putting things into balloons, if you make a small vacuum chamber open at one end and stretch the neck of a balloon at the open end, you can create a vacuum in the chamber, the balloon will "inflate," and you can put whatever you like into the balloon with minimal effort.
The mentos were blocked by two balloon layers on the last experiment. In order for it to work, the mentos need direct access to the diet coke. Can you put the mentos in the balloon with the diet coke and chill the balloon? Will that slow the reaction down enough to get everything set up? Once in the resin, one pop and hopefully the reaction you are looking for. Just a thought.
Great effort tonight!! Thanks for making us chuckle with some A-hole comments, 😂. ☺️💜
Thanks Mel, Yeah I think freezing the coke will help 😊
In the second experiment, maybe stick the needle through the side of the cap down into the balloon. Love your experiments!
I got it! Freeze a Mentos in water, freeze cola in a balloon, add the Mentos, then start the experiment!
I'd freeze the mentos first too to prevent it from going soft while freezing
LOL you crack me up…”put the needle right through the A hole!!!” 😂🤣😂
I was writing “do the mentos need to be in a balloon or container at the start? What if you epoxied them to the outside of the coke balloon instead?” Then I saw the setup for experiment 3 and cheered! Sadly gravity defeated you.
But I think three clustered together (like a trefoil but with a natural gap in the centre) could work. The needle goes through the central gap and, best case, touches all three, worst case, gets only one. As the liquid comes out wherever you pierce the balloon it looks like you’ll need to have the mentos right in the path of the hot needle. And the coke rises as soon as it escapes, so can you put the mentos back nearer the top of the balloon (like the first couple of tries) and pierce higher in the cup so it flows over them?
I love your “what if?” and determined attitude. If anyone can do this, you can! x
If it still fails, try capturing a kombucha fountain in resin instead! (Mostly joking: that could put resin on the ceiling. 😬)
Hey was thinking of the best way to get full effect try putting mentos in a black balloon and and use magnify sunlight to pop balloon after harden or as its setting up
Awe. Well, we tried. It was fascinating watching all the different reactions. Can't wait to see if any more ideas come forward.
Try this set up the balloon with the coke as before. With a mortar and pestle, grind the mentos into a fine powder. Then with some water. Mix into a paste then when the resin is ready, with a large gauge needle inject into the balloon. However test the paste by injecting into water, to see how well the mentos past will flow through the needle.
My 3 favorites to come out of Australia: Steve Irwin, AC/DC and Ben's Worx!
A couple thoughts:
1. The balloon seemed to pop best when you did it right after adding the hot resin, so that could be worth trying again
2. The mentos not going where they need to be seems to be the main issue, so what if you glued them to the inside of the cup where you know the coke is going to come out?
Thanks for the video!
1. use a large syringe to consistently get the coke in the balloon.
2. The eruption reaction actually is caused by the mentos. The sugar surface is rough at the microscopic level. The rough texture passes through the carbonation and will agitate as it passes the the bottom of the bottle. That is how the reaction works.
If you really want a reaction, get a full bottle of coke, and a cup.
Dump out a small amount of the coke, so that there’s some air in the top of the bottle. Then very carefully glue a couple of mentos to that inside portion of the bottle (or even just the neck of the bottle) where the air is WITHOUT letting the coke touch the mentos.
Then get your cup, make a hole at the bottom of the cup (big enough to just fit the cap of the bottle into), then carefully put the top of coke bottle through that hole and glue the cup in place so that it’s attached to the plastic neck of the coke bottle with no chance of leaking when the cup is filled. It should look like a coke bottle with its nose going part way through the bottom of the cup.
Then place some paper or thin plastic over the open cap of the bottle. It should be something that will give way to pressure but mostly prevent resin from leaking into the coke bottle when the cup is filled.
Fill the cup with resin. Once it starts to harden give the coke bottle a little shake so that the coke sloshes against the mentos, and you should have yourself a coke bottle exploding into some hardening resin 👌
I think the best option is the last one but done a bit differently. In resin the coke goes up bc of density but inside the balloon it goes down and all your mentos was up at the bottom of the ballon (bc you put it upside down in the cup). So maybe put the balloon full of coke inside the other one and then put the mentos so when attached to the cup where the resin is going to be poured the coke will go down and have direct and fast contact with the mentos. Or just do the same as before but attach the balloon the other way around lol Sorry if it sounded confusing but I hope you can understand hahah
Awesome Video Ben & Nichole Please don't give up try it again another time hopefully more ideas for another attempt will come along and i hope you are all well.🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Ok I waited until the end to say this. Guaranteed to work. Do the balloon with the half cut bottle glued to the top full of mentos. Then out it in a bigger cup so that you can put the balloon/cap sideways in the bottom of the cup. Once that's all set up puncture the cup/bottle/ then balloon giving the coke nowhere to go but into the cut bottle instantly filling it with coke and hitting the mentos. Just make sure that poker is hot enough to go through both the cup and cut bottle quickly. Can't wait to see this!!!
16:00 He doesn't always make double-entendre, but when he does, he dos equis. 😂
Try using uv resin to glue a mentos to a string or fishing line. Then run it above the balloon filled with coke. The coke will float, hiting the mentos. Or glue the mentos to the side of the cup and pop the balloon once the resin hardens right above it.
I've got an idea or 2. use one of the cups you just used and fill it half way with soda, then cut a large section of balloon to seal off the top of the cup. strap the mentos to the center of your balloon cut-out, then place it over the top of the cup. make sure the cup is airtight. then place this cup inside of a larger cup, and you are set. wait until the epoxy hardens completely then flip it over. its very important to not let the mentos touch the epoxy. this will create a barrier around the mentos that would prevent an immediate reaction.
I always love seeing your experiment videos. Like you said, it's fun not knowing what will happen. Try gluing some bare Mentos to the inside of the cup in that "goldilocks" ring where the coke gathers right at the 12 minute mark of your video. Hopefully the Mentos won't fall to the bottom of the cup, and they'll be submerged in Coke.
Oh I really hope he tried this again now I’m hooked
Ben, i have some thoughts.
Try gluing the cup to the ballon but dont glue it completely. Leave gaps so the baloon might split up into the cup.
Or, if you can coat the mentos in something that disolves like celulose or gelatin then you might be able to drop the mentos in the coke long before you need to.
You can also try and scale it up so you can the ballons to stretch more and therefore split better.
You could try dropping the mentos in on top of the balloon and since the coke raises so fast maybe it will hi t the mentos.
I think the option with a rigid "container" for the mentos above the balloon is the right way to go actually, but since you pierced the balloon on the side, the "mentos container" only protected them from the coke as they were nicely sealed in a prison of plastic and a non-pierced balloon "veil". You'd have to get a relatively thin "mentos container" (as in, made from a thin plastic), and use the needle from a descending angle so that you pierce through the "continer" and the upper part of the balloon underneath. Some resin would enter the mentos compartment, but probably not as much as coke. Some resin has to enter anyway, or chances are the coke won't go up enough.
Brilliant, best fail, the way you went at the balloons 🤣🤣🤣Thanks 👍
The entire time I’ve been watching this, I’ve been saying the same thing over and over: Crush the Mentos!!! If you crush them into a powder, put that into a second balloon (or balloon in a balloon) and fill it with air, not only should it pop, but you should get that instantaneous reaction you want because they’ll mix in a fraction of a second. I’d love to see if that helps 😊
Try curing some resin first in a cup, then gluing mentos to the cured resin. Then create a new cup of resin with some diet code in a balloon, then place the cured resin on top of the resin that is curing, then when ready pop the balloon. The cured resin will assist holding the diet coke, which will mix directly with the mentos.
"When it gets really hot and steamy I'll give it a poke" "I need to go right through the hole in the A." 🤣😂🤣😂What a fun experiment. The coke seems to rise to the top so could you put the balloon full of coke in and pour the resin. Then once the resin starts to harden push some mentos in so they "float" in the resin above the balloon?
I played the part of the Painter in the world’s most re-run Mentos TV commercial! It was produced in Phoenix, Arizona 15 years ago and has sold Mentos around the world and is still on the air!
I'm glad you thought of the idea to just glue the mentos to the side of the balloon, that thought had crossed my mind as well. But.... I think I can do you one even better.
What if.....
You pour about a 2 or 3 inch deep base layer in the cup, and maybe used a shot glass as a "void" in the center, so that when it cured, it would have a hollow pocket, right? Then.... After that base was hardened, you put 4 or so mentos in that cavity you made. Fill your diet coke balloon up and have that glued around the lip of the mentos chamber, and after that set... Fill it up and pop it.
Glue the mentos to a tooth pick glue the tooth pick to the cup add the resin and pop the balloon! The coke seems to want to go up to the top so if you have the mentos on a tooth pick about half way then you know the coke will hit it
I had a similar thought of glueing the mentos to the sides of the cup up where the coke wants to go
I believe 2nd one would possibly work with a couple changes.
1: A bigger cap that would almost cover the top of the balloon filled with coke.
2: only tack glue the cap onto the balloon with just a 3-4 spots (not glue the entire rim of the cap to the balloon).
3: poke the balloon at a upper angle going downward. Also try to poke the balloon as close as you can to the rim of the cap.
See the reason why I said to just tack glue the cap on a few areas instead of gluing the whole cap to the balloon is for a reason. When you go to poke the balloon at an upper angle going down the balloon would give inward because it's not completely glued down to the cap. This will allow th coke to then shoot up into the cap area where the mentos is at.
Well I theory that's how it works in my head at least.
Try two pours. First with nothing in it but something to make a cavity. Fill the cavity half way with coke. Attach the mentos to the bottom of cling film and put it over the top of the cavity. Pour the resin on top and wait for it to become taffy then shake!
Here in the US we would say, Houston, we have a problem
In fact, this common phrase is known and spoken all over the world. It sounds especially ironic in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, India, China. It is already a classic.
Great Video. At about the 10 min mark you had the mentos in the plastic bottle glued to the top of the balloon. I think that one would have worked had you stuck the poker through the plastic cup with the mentos and then into the balloon. The coke would have had no where else to go but into the mentos. Thanks for all the great videos and projects.
I liked the final method placing the coke balloon inside of another balloon with the mentos. I can see that your main issue may in fact be the location of the mentos in the larger balloon. If you place the coke balloon in the larger balloon first, and then put in all the mentos so that when the balloon with the coke is popped, the mentos will be in the best location to be able to get full contact with the coke.. Also it appeared with the resin that its possibly your initial low low poke into the balloon was a bit too low in the resin that hadnt firmed up like the higher parts. If you can come up with a way of poking the balloon without melting the plastic cup as much, you may then be able to hold more resin, and coke. I enjoyed the experiments. hopefully the resin wasnt super expensive for your testing thus far.
Hopefully the end segment is a success I’m still watching it. Great effort and fun 😂❤
Maybe try putting the coke in a balloon as before and glue to the bottom again then cut a piece of small diameter acrylic to fit above the ballon ( horizontally fitting from one side of the cup to the other) then glue some mentos on the acrylic, fill with resin as usual. Hopefully the coke will still rise as before. Good luck👍
I believe the heat or the liquid quality of the resin might alter the surface characteristics of the mento that fascilitate the reaction. The heat may also dissipate the co2 from the soda. In an enclosed space im sure it’ll just reintigrate but idk.
The balloon(s) always act as a barrier between the mentos and the diet coke. I think you need a different method that doesn't have something between them. Something like sitting the mentos on top of a playing card that you can slide out so they FALL into the coke. Another thing to consider would be crushing the mentos into a powder. Might be more you could do with it in that form
The best way to prevent agitation and loss of suspended CO2 is to use a 60cc syringe with a tapered port. Inject the soda very slowly.
OMG! You made me so nervous. It was like watching a suspenseful movie lol. I have no idea about this but i wonder if you popped the balloon more on the top (where the air is in the balloon) instead of the side... the coke might stay in better and try to escape from the top. It will want to go up, instead of going out the hole in the side of the cup... maybe.... Just a thought. I hope you'll try it again.
Best lines: "It looks like a virus" and "through the a hole". LOL
Could you use wax to coat the mentos? Then put them in a plastic bag or larger modified balloon with the coke. When the resin heats up it would melt the wax and let the them mix.
How about this for a way to try it. Take some 2 core electrical cable and connect one end with a very thin nichrome wire between them that will heat up if you connect a battery to the other ends of the cable. Place that inside the mentos balloon, ensuring the nichrome wire is touching the balloon skin and there is some air in the mentos balloon to ensure a pop. This is then put inside the diet coke balloon, again passing the wires from the inner balloon right though to allow you to connect the battery once everything is tied. In theory, once the resin is at temp, you connect the battery, it pops the mentos balloon inside the coke balloon, without popping the coke one. This give a few moments for the reaction to start before you pop the coke balloon with the heated needle to allow the reaction to be seen in the resin.
What if you stick the mentos to the inner circumference towards the top of the cup. So when you pop the soda balloon the soda will rise to the mentos. Should prevent the result of basically a density column where the mentos and soda can’t mix with each other.
Maybe glue toothpicks stuck through the Mentos in a + over the balloon right where the Coke usually gathers so the do not sink? Maybe use the bottom of one of the small bottles over the Mentos as well to keep an air gap between the Mentos and the resin until the Coke is released, though if you can find something more clear it would look cooler if it works. That little cup you have the balloon sitting on before the final pop would work great for my idea.
You were on the right track with the 2 balloons. However, I think you have to blow the one with mentos up so the balloon will peel back from them. Then I would repeat your first pop idea, but pop the coke one first and then the mentos. Hopefully it will cause the desired result
Your idea of glueing the cap will work. Make these changes...
Glue a dowel to the cap that pokes through the surface of the resin. When curing starts, you will hold this to stop the cap from moving.
Then, get your needle hot, and poke through the cap first, and then into the balloon from inside the cap. The soda will flood into the cap and displace the resin if you're fast enough.
This gives you mentos, soda and air inside the cap. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.
My take away is there just isn't enough air in the balloons to get them to pop out of the way like you need. I feel like that last one should have worked if there was enough air to make the balloons really explode. The other thing is that your heated poker is great for easing into the side of the cup, but it's probably doing the same thing to the balloon too. Really need a way to pop the balloon as explosively as possible.
Edit to add: what if you place a thumbtack into the hot resin near the balloon and then use the poker to push that into the balloon
Great episode, really enjoyed it and my daughter loved watching it with me