Old

Faithful

The science behind the soda and candy reaction

**NOTE: This is NOT an acceptable Science Fair Project Topic

EXAMPLE SCIENCE FAIR DIGITAL BOARD

Question
Does the type of soda
impact the size of the
soda geyser?

Abstract
As seen in popular culture, soda and Mentos
creates a instantaneous chemical reaction.
The experiment was to determine which
type of soda best reacted with the Mentos.
To determine the best type, both time length
of reaction and amount of soda remaining
were tested. The hypothesis that diet coke
would produce the best reaction was
supported by both the greatest reaction

Hypothesis
If diet coke is used as the soda
in the experiment, then the
size of the geyser will be the
greatest because of the
chemical properties of diet
coke and Mentos.

Materials
2 Liter bottles of soda ( Diet Coke,
Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Pepsi,
Fruit, Green Apple, and Sprite)
Mint Mentos
Stopwatch
Graduated Cylinder
Safety Goggles

Procedure
1. Wear Safety Goggles
2. Place 6 Mentos into the Geyser tube and
attach to the bottle of soda
3. Pull the holding pin
4. Time the reaction from when the pin is
pulled to when there is no more fizzing
5. Measure how much soda is left in the
bottle
6. Record data

Procedure
Independent variable: Type of soda
Dependent variables: Reaction time and
amount of soda left in bottle
Control: Standard Diet Coke with mint
Mentos

Experimental Pictures

Results: Reaction
time
Soda
ReactionTime
DietCoke

(seconds)
6.48

Sprite

6.85

DietCoke(Lime)

5.97

DietPepsi

6.05

Results:
Remaining
Soda
Soda
LeftinBottle(mL)
DietCoke

560

Sprite

710

DietCoke(Lime)

570

DietPepsi

650

Graph: Reaction
Time
Time(Seconds)

TypeofSoda

Graph: Remaining
Soda
AmountofSodaRemaining(mL)

TypeofSoda

Conclusion
The control (Diet coke with mint mentos)
had the best reaction, followed closely
by Diet Coke with Lime. The worst
reaction was the Sprite. The amount left
in the bottle was primarily used to
determine the quality of the reaction,
because the least amount of remaining
soda meant the reaction was more
successful. Based on this data, the

Works Cited
Erupting Diet Coke with Mentos
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-scie
nce-home-coke-mentos
/
The Chemistry of Diet Coke
http://www.chemistryislife.com/the-chemistry-of-dietcoke