--- title: "Mentos and coke experiment: why the cola shoots up" description: "The Mentos and coke experiment for kids: why mints make cola erupt, how to do it safely outdoors, and why your stomach won't burst. Try it on screen first." source_name: "Game Tailors" source_url: "https://extreemtekenen.nl/en/experiments/cola-and-mints/" site_home: "https://extreemtekenen.nl/" source_description: "The drawing app where the paper is real. No ads, no accounts, no data collected." locale: "en" legal: - "Game Tailors · Schieweg 15Y-40, 2627 AN Delft (NL)" - "KvK 92437702 · VAT NL866044474B01" - "info@gametailors.com · +31 6 4227 5919" copyright: "© 2026 Game Tailors" published_at: "2026-10-24T00:47:13.860Z" modified_at: "2026-10-24T01:17:20.343Z" --- # Mentos and coke experiment: why the cola shoots up ## Drop the mints and run Cola is full of dissolved carbon dioxide gas. Mint sweets are covered in tiny pits where bubbles can form, so when the mints drop in, all that gas turns into bubbles at once and pushes the cola out in a fountain. Nothing new is made: it's a physical change. [Play in your browser]()[Do it for real](<#for-real>) - Ages 5\+ - 10 minutes - Outdoors only ![Painted illustration of a cola bottle on the grass shooting up a tall fountain of foam as mints drop in, the painter in goggles laughing beside it.]() ## Quick facts Age 5 to 10 Time 10 minutes, plus a hose-down Mess High and sticky: outdoors only Adult needed Yes, to drop the mints and keep everyone back You need A 2-litre bottle of diet cola and a roll of Mentos-style mints \(a few euros or dollars\) On screen / for real Both ## Cola and mints in Extreme Drawing In the free **Science** tab, tap **Eruptions** and choose **Cola and mints**, then tap the paper where the bottle should stand. After a short moment a fountain of cola shoots up for about three seconds, getting weaker as the gas runs out, with a rushing hiss. It rains back down in a wide ring of sticky brown drops that soak in and stain the paper. Then the fun starts, because the cola stays sugary: **ants** come for it and **fruit flies** find it. Put the page in the **oven** and the cola cooks down to caramel. It's everything you'd rather not have on your kitchen floor. [Play in your browser]() ![Painted illustration of the painter, goggles on his beret, studying a bottle foaming over in stripes, with red cabbage juice in pink and green glasses and fizzing baking soda.]() ## The cola geyser, outside **You need** - A 2-litre bottle of **diet** cola at room temperature \(much less sticky than regular cola\) - A roll of chalky mint sweets: Mentos are the classic, about 5 to 7 of them - A sheet of paper rolled into a tube just wider than the mints, and a piece of card - Safety goggles - An open space outdoors: grass or a path, away from cars, windows and walls - A watering can or hose for afterwards 1. Find a good spotStand the bottle upright on flat ground outside. Goggles on for everyone. 2. Open the bottle gentlyTwist the cap off slowly so it doesn't fizz over, and put the cap away. 3. Load the tubeHold the card under the paper tube like a trapdoor and stack the mints inside. 4. PredictHow high will it go? Higher than you? Higher than a door? Mark your guess on a fence or wall. 5. Drop and step backThe adult holds the tube over the bottle neck, slides the card away so all the mints drop at once, and everyone takes three big steps back. 6. Measure and clean upCompare the height with your guess. Then wash the sticky patch away with water and recycle the bottle. Safety Outdoors only, goggles on, and never aim the bottle at anyone. **Never put the cap back on** after the mints are in: the gas can't get out and the bottle can burst or the cap can fly off. Cola stains clothes, so wear old ones. ## Will your stomach burst if you eat Mentos and drink coke? No. That's a playground myth. You swallow far less at once than a whole bottle, the gas has room to escape, and it comes back up as burps. It doesn't feel nice, though, and gulping fizzy drinks fast can make your tummy ache, so it's not a good dare. Do your geyser outside, in a bottle. ### For kids Cola is full of hidden gas waiting to make bubbles. The bumpy mints give the bubbles millions of places to start, all at the same time, so the gas shoots out and takes the cola with it. ## Why the cola erupts **For grown-ups.** Cola is carbonated: carbon dioxide is dissolved in it under pressure, more than can stay dissolved once the bottle is open. To come out, the gas needs places where bubbles can start \(nucleation sites\). A smooth bottle offers very few, so an open cola goes flat slowly. A mint's surface is covered in microscopic pits, each one a nucleation site, and the mints sink fast, so bubbles start all the way down the bottle at once. The gum arabic in the mints and the sweetener in diet cola also lower the surface tension, which makes bubbles form even more easily. The rush of gas pushes the cola up and out. No new substance is made, so this is a **physical change**, not a chemical reaction: the carbon dioxide was in the cola all along. ## Predict, then try next Each of these needs another bottle, so pick the one you're most curious about. ### Cold cola or warm cola? Warm liquids hold less gas. Which fountain goes higher? ### Diet or regular? Two bottles side by side. Most people find diet goes higher. Does yours? ### One mint or seven? Does the height keep going up with more mints, or stop at some point? ### Something else rough? Try a teaspoon of salt or sugar. Which works better than the mints, and why might that be? ## Cola and mints in the classroom A memorable way into gases and particles: it fits KS2 Year 4 *states of matter* \(gases in a liquid\) and NGSS 5-PS1-1 \(matter is made of particles too small to be seen\). It's also a good contrast with baking soda and vinegar: one makes a new gas, the other lets out gas that was already there. Show the app eruption on the whiteboard, then do one bottle in the playground. [Ideas for teachers]() ## Mentos and coke questions Why do Mentos make coke erupt? The mints' rough surface gives the dissolved carbon dioxide in the cola millions of places to form bubbles at once. So much gas comes out so fast that it pushes the cola up and out of the bottle. Is Mentos and coke a chemical reaction? No, it's a physical change. The gas was already dissolved in the cola; the mints only let it escape all at once. Nothing new is made. Does diet coke work better than regular coke? Usually, yes: diet cola tends to go higher, and it's far less sticky to clean up. Regular cola still erupts. What happens if you eat Mentos and drink coke? You'll probably burp a lot, and your tummy may feel uncomfortable, but your stomach won't burst. That's a myth. How many Mentos should you use? Five to seven mints in a 2-litre bottle gives a good fountain. Drop them all at once with a paper tube so the gas comes out together. ## More to try ![Painted illustration of a bottle on a tray pouring out a fat foam snake in pink, yellow, blue and white stripes, the painter in goggles leaning back, amazed.]() ### [Elephant toothpaste]() A foam snake that is a real chemical reaction, and gets warm. ![Painted illustration of the painter pouring red vinegar onto a heap of baking soda on a tray, which fizzes up into pink foam.]() ### [Baking soda and vinegar]() Fizz that makes a brand-new gas wherever an acid meets the powder. ![Painted illustration of the painter finger-painting a big sheet covered in hand prints, paint splats, a toothpaste squiggle, glitter and a cracked egg.]() ### [Messy play]() All the splatter and splash on screen, and none of the cleaning up. ## Make it rain cola, minus the sticky floor Science tab, Eruptions, Cola and mints. Then see who turns up for the sugar. [Play in your browser]()[All experiments]()