Slashdot Mirror
Bellagio Fountains Recreated with Mentos and Coke
Trip writes "What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints? It's amazing and completely insane. The first part of this video demonstrates a simple geyser, and the second part shows just how extreme it can get. Over one hundred jets of soda fly into the air in less than three minutes. It's a hysterical and spectacular mint-powered version of the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas."
What the hell topic does *this* fall under?
I think they should have a section called "Slow News Day". Everyone is already tagging things that.
...of course, now I've suddenly become very thirsty.
--
Music should be free
My Computer Music Tutorial Videos
Are people so lazy as to not be able to write their own review anymore? The entire article summary is lifted verbatim from the website w/o any attribution.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
A number of different groups of people seem to have attempted it as the different versions available on Google depict.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
"These chemists are saying that the primary cause is physical, not chemical. Their explanation: nucleation sites. If you have a liquid that is supersaturated with gas (like soda, which is pumped full of carbon dioxide), a nucleation site is a place where the gas is able to form bubbles. Nucleation sites can be scratches on a surface or specks of dust - anywhere that you have a high surface area in a very small volume. That's where bubbles can form.
Mentos seem to be loaded with nucleation sites. In other words, there are so many microscopic nooks and crannies on the surface of a Mento that an incredible number of bubbles will form when you drop it in a bottle of soda. Since the Mentos are also heavy enough to sink, they react with the soda all the way to the bottom. The escaping bubbles quickly turn into a raging foam, and the pressure builds dramatically. Before you know it, you've got a big geyser happening!"
despite it being a waste of food (is soda and candy food?). These guys obviously put alot of thought into the choreography and timing of their fountain. Kudos. There are two questions I still have:
1. How much soda did they waste getting it right? and;
2. Are they doing this anywhere near ants?
I've seen lots of cola and mentos experiments, but that was definitely the best one. Anyone who want to know how this works: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/000 00109
...Stuff that matters.
By the way, does the diet coke react more in combination with the mentos, or are they just afraid of gaining weight?
So, I am sitting here at work, with a can of Diet Coke and a packet of mentos. Mentos Diet coke /Looks around, quickly drinks diet coke and swallows mentos
hehe
I remember when I was younger, my brother and I would collect some empty softdrink bottles, put a bit of water in them, connect them to an air compressor and shoot them into the air. The reverse (shooting liquid into the air) looks like just as much fun.
I've seen this trick done before, but never on such a grand scale! I hope those were waterproof lab coats...
Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
clickedy click
Or those of you who have never seen Ocean's Eleven, the real Bellagio Fountains.
.. to 'A flock of seagulls' music.
Is this the same concept behind the explosions that the Mythbusters created in a microwave with water. I know that the water was resulted from super clean glass that is free of defect. Introducing an object will immediately cause the gas to bubble and make it explode.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Does anyone know what the name of the song and who made it? I like it.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The fact that I can't click on a tag attached to a story and use it to pull up a list of stories with the same tag makes me realize that I really don't understand tags. :-(
What on God's green earth made you think their servers could withstand a Monday morning Slashdotting?
From now on, please point your links to pages that do not contain embedded video, and contact the site owners before you hit that submit button. Give them a fair chance to find a mirror before you lure a geek stampede in their general direction.
See that small quivering thing in the corner? That's their sysop, losing his/her religion.
I required a plugin to view that movie, But found it here with a youtube video
Best coke and mentos experiment
http://www.digg.com/links/The_Extreme_Diet_Coke_Me ntos_Experiment
me jumping with kites I make...
That's an awesome soundtrack. Is it original?
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.
Ok, the experiment is a nice one to add to the list, but it's hardly "the coolest experiment ever".. I fondly remember two tricks when I was at college:
1: put some hydrocloric acid in an empty (plasic!!) soda bottle, add some aluminum foil, close bottle, throw away.
The bottle will start to expand and blow up making a very loud bang.
2: stack a tealight on top of two other tea lights, making a small pyramid. Light them and wait until the top tea light starts to fume and then the entire surface will burst to flames. Then, carefully throw a small amount of water in the top candle. You'll get a huge ball of fire 2 meters high. Nice way to make clear why you should never throw water in burning deep fryer.
Warning: these experiments are quite dangerous, so be careful, don't put your head above the tea candles, make sure you're at least 10 meters distant from the bottle, never use a glass bottle, think it through before you begin. Use common sense.
Any more cool DIY experiments anyone?
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
Seems like the vids borked.... Slashdot effect anyone?
-Tim Stackhouse Rowan University Computer Science
If you want to repeat the experiment with the hydrochloric acid: don't get near to the bottle, even if it doesn't seem to work. The aluminum and the acid produce an exothermic reaction that goes faster and faster as it heats up. So at first nothing much seems to happen, but once the acid gets warm, the reaction goes a lot faster, adding much more heat, making the reaction go faster etc.... You don't want a bottle with steaming hot hydrochloric acid exploding in your face!!!
Also, the gas after the explosion does open up your sinusses, but I don't think it's healthy
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
" If you have a liquid that is supersaturated with gas (like soda, which is pumped full of carbon dioxide), a nucleation site is a place where the gas is able to form bubbles. Nucleation sites can be scratches on a surface or specks of dust - anywhere that you have a high surface area in a very small volume. That's where bubbles can form."
Call me crazy, but what about using small bits of carbon aerogel? I know its expensive, but with 600 m^2/g of surface area, it would be a perfect canadate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBkQe_lwak
I thought this is about (Score:1, Flamebait)
I thought this rating and Troll were supposed to be used when I'm trying to start a flame war.
I'm just being dissapointed that putting mentos in coke is what Slashdot editor consider stuff that matters.
PS: Don't mod me down further, you don't... ya know... wanna find mentos when you open your next coke. It'll be a shame.
The site also answers everybody's big question: Is it dangerous to drink soda and eat Mentos?
"Well, a lot of the fizz goes away as you drink. Then when bubbles are released in your stomach, your stomach can expand a bit, and it also has ways of releasing excess pressure. Do not, repeat, do not be stupid and test the limits of your stomach. Don't even think about it."
Make sure you check out the cautionary tale they recommend.
so i take its not safe to drink soda and eat mentos at the same time?
...why you can no longer buy Spearmint Mentos in the U.S.
The video on YouTube...
I was wondering, the jet from the bottle actually doesn't last very long. And the jets seemed in sync with the music. And the jets lasted quite awhile (except for the big burst at the end of the video).
It makes me wonder if they did this at normal speed to a sped up version of this song... and then slowed the whole thing down to sync it with normal speed music... so the jets seemed to last longer?
Pretty clever and skillful stunt.
If you've seen the episode of Mr. Wizard's World, he did this with an ultrasonic cleaner like they have in jewelry stores. Works about as well as the Mentos.
same here.
Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
news for nerds...
If they had slowed down the video, you would be able to tell by the way the guys were moving.
The Coke foam was obviously forced out of some sort of nozzle, perhaps something as simple as a hole in the lid. The spray certainly did not look like a simple gyser shooting out of an open bottle. The shape of the spray was wrong for that.
Opera seems to have no problems with it. The only logical choice in this situation is to acknowledge Firefox's shortcomings, and upgrade to the better browser.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-145368437 748873531
Here's the text from the page (posting anonymously to avoid accusations of karma whoring):
/home/revver/svn/Twisted/twisted/internet/defer.py , line 107 in maybeDeferred
/home/revver/svn/revver/trunk/revver/web/contentSe rver.py, line 252 in locateChild
/home/revver/svn/revver/trunk/revver/web/contentSe rver.py, line 162 in __init__
exceptions.OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/data2/revver/mediaStorage/27636/27636.mov'
105
106
try:
107
result = f(*args, **kw)
108
except:
Locals
args (PageContext(tag=, remembrances={'nevow.inevow.ICurrentSegments': ('broadcast', '27636', 'video.mov'), 'nevow.inevow.IRemainingSegments': ('13970',)}), ('13970',))
kw {}
f >
250
return self, ()
251
elif len(data) == 1:
252
return AffiliateDownloadMedia(self.mediaId, int(data[0])), ()
253
def renderHTTP(self, ctx):
Locals
data ('13970',)
self
ctx PageContext(tag=, remembrances={'nevow.inevow.ICurrentSegments': ('broadcast', '27636', 'video.mov'), 'nevow.inevow.IRemainingSegments': ('13970',)})
Globals
AffiliateDownloadMedia
160
self.mediaId = mediaId
161
self.affId = affId
162
fd = os.open(mediaPaths.videoFile(mediaId), os.O_RDWR)
163
assert fd >= 0
Locals
self
mediaId '27636'
affId 13970
Globals
mediaPaths
os
exceptions.OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/data2/revver/mediaStorage/27636/27636.mov'
Not a problem...I'm using a slightly older version (1.5.0.2) of Firefox with mplayer-plugin on a Slackware-based system and I had no such issues. It seems your milege may vary.
Although Rummy is just about as evil as they come and the FDA approval process is unfair, I still trust Aspartame. Aspartame itself is not a "poison that attacks nerve ends"; although its components may have some health effects in huge amounts, typical food consumption is safe. It is approximately 180 times sweeter than sugar, so diet foods and beverages only contain a small amount of it.
= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1218049 4&query_hl=2
a 05.html/
Approximately 10% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into methanol in the small intestine. Most of the methanol is absorbed and quickly converted into formaldehyde. Some scientists believe that the methanol cannot be a problem because: (a) there is not enough methanol absorbed to cause toxicity, (b) methanol and formaldehyde are already a by-product of human metabolism, and (c) there is more methanol in some alcoholic beverages and fruit juices than is derived from aspartame ingestion. (Wikipedia)
See also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd
Phenylalanine is an amino acid commonly found in foods. Approximately 50% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into phenylalanine. I can't see why this would be a bad thing. Phenylalanine is used in living organisms, including the human body, where it is an essential amino acid. Phenylalanine can also be converted into L-tyrosine, another one of the twenty protein-forming amino acids. L-tyrosine is converted into L-DOPA, which is further converted into the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Research indicates that Phenylalanine can be an effective part of an overall program to fight chronic pain and depression in some cases, including the mood swings of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Some sources contend that it can increase energy and mental alertness. So it's a natural amino acid that can function as a CNS stimulant. It can't hurt you any more then the caffene already in the pop, as long as you don't abuse it. (Even stronger CNS stimulants like amphetamines are fairly safe as long as you use a small enough quantity of them and maintain a normal sleep cycle).
Aspartic acid is an amino acid commonly found in foods. Approximately 40% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into aspartic acid. A lot of FUD has been drummed up about aspartic acid being an "excitotoxin". I really is just one of the 20 natural proteinogenic amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.
"...since aspartame is broken down into these components before it is absorbed into the blood stream, aspartame in its initial form does not have the opportunity to travel to target organs, including the brain, to cause cancer." (American Cancer Society)
Animal studies HAVE found aspartame to be cancer causing, but no major human study has. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/265559_sod
------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
Oh shit! Now they are gonna ban coke and mints from airline flights.
Table-ized A.I.
What's weird is that I just did this with my daughter (10) yesterday morning, just for fun. I think she enjoyed the Bellagio version quite a bit more because or our "experiment".
Yes... because Wikipedia is always perfectly sane and accurate when discussing anything with even a whiff of controversy...
WARNING: Post may contain Sarcasm. Sarcasm not meant to be used orally, intravenously, or topically. Sarcasm is meant to be taken aurally or occularly only. Sarcasm may cause discomfort in areas covered with highly reflective material. Sarcasm may cause the following side effects: Discomfort, High Blood Pressure, Spots in Vision, Unusual Cranial Activity, Sudden Quick Breathing, and Gritting of Teeth. If Side Effects occur, continue taking Sarcasm until symptoms stop.
Nephilium
Religion is simply art bastardized out of all recognition. -- Lawrence Durell
Your posts are redundant Anonymous Coward
Has anyone one tried salt powder or salt tablets, which should be much cheaper than mentos? Decades ago for fun in the dorms, we would dump salt into an unsuspecting student's glass of soda. Foam would instantly pour all over their food tray. If the victim wasn't aware of the trick, they were left agape and aghast.
Another fun activity is to seal a suitable quantity of dry ice pieces inside a plastic bottle of hot water.... then RUN AND HIDE! Caution: If not carried out under controlled conditions, the explosion can be deafening, destructive and otherwise injurious. Suspense can grow to be intense because one never knows when the bottle will burst (if at all) (Hint: Don't do this anywhere near breakable items or innocent bystanders)
I personally prefer this video that dispenses with a common Coke and Mentos myth.
"Although Rummy is just about as evil as they come and the FDA approval process is unfair, I still trust Aspartame."
.gov site on the subject when "evil Rummy" is calling the shots here.
:-)) is concerned, I'll agree that any beneficial effects there are only marginal.
... even when exposed to aspartame. Add to that the obvious lack of interest in conducting such studies.
It's your body. If you would stand in line for a free, totally unnecessary radiation treatment thinking that it isn't a big deal and could even be healthy, that's fine. I would still go out of my once to tell you that what you're about to do is the worst thing you could do to yourself but if you in turn started citing studies by radiation equipment manufacturers and others that have a vested interest there, then I would just smile politely and walk away. You can do whatever you want to yourself for all I care and you don't have to listen. That's your privilege. However that privilege ends where other people get hurt because you've been proselytizing to them.
Approximately 10% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into methanol... in the small intestine. Most of the methanol is absorbed and quickly converted into formaldehyde. Some scientists believe that the methanol cannot be a problem because: (a) there is not enough methanol absorbed to cause toxicity, (b) methanol and formaldehyde are already a by-product of human metabolism, and (c) there is more methanol in some alcoholic beverages and fruit juices than is derived from aspartame ingestion. (Wikipedia)
Right! People have been _extremely_ rarely observed going into convulsions and dying on the sidewalk all because of a scant few hundred micro- to milligrams per kilogram of body weight of Formaldehyde, Methanol and all the other wonderful metabolic by products. They die in hospitals after years of consumption and exposure, cancer surgery, radiation and chemical treatment. You (and whover you copied that text from) are patently leaving out the dimension of time here.
See also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1218049 4&query_hl=2 See also a
Phenylalanine is an amino acid commonly found in foods.[...]Research indicates that Phenylalanine can be an effective part of an overall program to fight chronic pain and depression in some cases, including the mood swings of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Some sources contend that it can increase energy and mental alertness. So it's a natural amino acid that can function as a CNS stimulant. It can't hurt you any more then the caffene already in the pop, as long as you don't abuse it. (Even stronger CNS stimulants like amphetamines are fairly safe as long as you use a small enough quantity of them and maintain a normal sleep cycle).
Right. As a matter of fact Phenylalanie (Aspartam) does have analgetic (painkilling) properties. I wonder if Paracetamol (Tylenol) tasted just as sweet whether people would be gurgling that instead? As far as the stimulating effect on the CNS (Central Nervous System
Aspartic acid is an amino acid commonly found in foods. Approximately 40% of aspartame (by mass) is broken down into aspartic acid. A lot of FUD has been drummed up about aspartic acid being an "excitotoxin". I really is just one of the 20 natural proteinogenic amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.
Interesting. Did you know that some of the most deadliest toxines in nature such as the venom of the Black Mamba are really just proteins and building blocks of proteins?[..] Animal studies HAVE found aspartame to be cancer causing, but no major human study has. Lab rats live a maximum of 1.5 - 2 years (provided they are not forcefed with aspartame). Humans have a considerably higher life expectancy
But that's one
...but do the Diet Coke + Mentos fountains run linux (yet)? I'm guessing at least one of the guys in the video does (or, at least they both use Macs).
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Heres what happens when you try to mix the soda and mentos inside your belly: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869424433 8798619086
This is the solution to all of the budget problems that NASA has been having recently. They can save millions of dollars by powering their rockets with Mentos and Diet Coke!
This is fantastic. This morning's news makes me happy I've stuck through with Slashdot.
Thanks, guys!
Take off every 'sig' !!
Wouldn't the Benny Hill theme be more appropriate for this video??
This video content doesn't really fall under "science" (white labcoats don't mean it's "science").
It really is more an example of the kind of new business models for video: low cost productions, free distribution, and web supported advertising. And the content is of a form where nobody really would want to bother redistributing it without advertising.
It's actually not all that different from the original business model of network television, although it is arguably a more "creative" and "innovative" than a lot of what we get on television today.
When I saw all this waste, I was gonna say "Think of the starving children in Africa", but then I remembered that it was Diet Coke and Mentos, two substances that may have the appearance of food but are pretty close to having to carry warning labels about their health risks.
So what happens when one drinks diet coke while eating mentos ? The father of all burps ? Or he explodes and dies with horrible suffering ?
--Go Debian!
It might be offtopic but it's true, the modifier is too far away of the rest.
I am sure the sales of Mentoes and diet Pepsi or Coke are going to spike after this video spreads on the InterNet. A trick to be shown at all the family picnics this Summer.
I had to find the video in the Firefox cache to view it.
Say out loud: I'm an Aspie and I'm somewhat proud, I guess. Uh. Can I write an email in all caps instead? Hm...
I hope they realize that no woman with an hour glass figure...oh, what the hell am I saying...no woman with a pulse would consider going all the way with these geeks.
-=- Many seek good nights and lose good days.
As long as it's not as 'in your face' as in recent Bond movies and information-to-ad ratio stays within a certain margin I'm actually ok with it - there are all sorts of marketing people and politicians already trying to mess with my mind; I think it might even help building up an immune system against that sort of thing ;)
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
you too can create chemiluminescence!! no need for those commercial light sticks!!! mix hydrogen peroxide and bleach (perchlorate) --- this will make singlet oxygen and dimers of singlet oxygen will form and emit red light, you can easily see it in a darkened room, use the highest percentage peroxide you can find, this is (relatively) safe as long as you don't drink the bleach................the mentos/diet coke thing isa hoot to do with kids
"Also apparently diet sodas have a slightly lower viscosity..."
I think several things are at work inside the bottle. Nucleation sites, the surface composition and texture of the mentos, the rapid sinking of the mints, viscosity of the liquid, and perhaps these points, which I haven't seen mentioned:
If a large enough number of small bubbles simultaneously and speedily ascend from the bottom of the bottle to the narrowed neck and out of the bottle, a runaway process is created as the pressure inside the bottle is reduced enough (similar to a venturi) to augment the formation of bubbles throughout the bottle. As these new bubbles reach the narrowed neck, pressure in the entire bottle is reduced further, which helps create more bubbles, etc. All of this bubble formation creates a disturbance in the carbonated liquid, which causes many more bubbles to form. As liquid begins to leave the bottle, pressure is further reduced due to the liquid having a lower average density (discounting the bubbles, the height of the water column is reduced).
In short, the addition of mentos is merely a trigger that leads to a runaway process that may not require the continued presence of mentos.
I'd like to try using an aquarium bubble stone and tube instead of mentos as the trigger, but I don't have one currently available. If someone else wants to try for the potential glory, be my guest.
These guys should really try out for the Blue Man Group... if their other careers don't work out that is.
Please. Thanks.
Did the video creator get mod points? How is this off-topic? Its pertinent information about the performance of this site, which many people seem to be experiencing problems with.
Same deal with the hydrochloric acid and the tinfoil in the 2L bottle, but even more fun:
Before inserting the foil and acid, securely duct-tape a large rock or brick to the bottle. Insert the foil and acid, quickly cap the bottle, and toss into the middle of the nearest small lake/retention pond.. From what I can find online, standard 2L soda bottles can withstand >200 psi, so it's quite a pop!
Wait for it, wait for it.....*deep thud* *ground shakes*, BOOM!
*Disclaimer - Horrible for lake ecosystem, I'm sure.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
I can't see the vide in my browser, anyone else having such issues? If it works with mplayer what's the URL to the video?
I am supposed to say something ambiguous and smart here. I'll leave that to everyone else...
Anything that has to do with exploding food always reminds me of Swedish Lemon Angels -- before all the copies of the recipe on the internet spoiled the joke. I actually passed the recipe to my sister. Apparently it had the desired effect because she still won't give me any details. :)
I Am Not An Entomologist, but my wife found this ant bait recipe online:
I thought ants liked "sweet" and any sweetener would do, but anyway my wife took the recipe literally and it worked fine...
:/
Interesting, indeed. Which makes me wonder: can anyone get their hands on a microscope, and provide a surface picture?
"Good news, everyone!"
Isn't that Terry Benedict's place?
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
But i think someone should re-read the "stuff that matters" part of the slogan. I don't want to see /. slip into YTMND
This is hilarious you need to relax.
For a catagory I think science experiment gone crazy. I think David Letterman would be proud.
Fiendy switched from the high glucose version (high levels of sugar act neurotoxic too incidentally) of the beverage to the high aspartame version. The Caffeine content did not change. I'd suggest you read what people have say before giving them a kneejerk reaction.
That sarcasm stuff sounds dangerous! How do you know when it is around?
This reminds me of a game I used to play called Dr. Pepper rockets. Essentially, take 500ml of Dr. Pepper, shake it up for 10 minutes, then slam it down on the ground. The cap will burst off, and your Dr. Pepper bottle will soar like a rocket, with sticky cola as its exauhst. But I have to admit, I had no idea mentos did that to coke.
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
My friends brought be to Vegas for my bachelor party last September and in a drunken stupor, decided it would be "hilarious" to jump into the Bellagio fountain pool buck naked. Fortunately for us, we didn't get busted by anyone, the 100-or-so spectators around the fountain were very supportive, and we caught it all on my friend's cell-phone camera. Unfortunately for Ryan (3rd man in the pool), he got a liver infection that nearly killed him after gulping down a mouthful of that vile, recycled, bacteria-ridden water.
Kinda late to this...
You can't exclude caffeine as the headache-inducing agent in artificially sweetened colas.
Primary post-caffeine effects are generally the result of it causing you to be sensitive to adenosine (with which caffeine competes), leading to a drop in blood pressure, causing blood to pool in the head. This is the main cause of headaches several hours after one consumes caffeine.
However, one of caffeine's indirect effects is the increase the uptake of glucose from the blood stream in a reaction to the directly-induced release of glucose by the liver, lipolysis, and mild diuresis. In other words, when you consume caffeine, your energy stores are "raided" and your blood chemistry changes in ways that can cause headaches. Most of those are readily avoided by the introduction of glucose into the blood stream at the same time as the caffeine. That is, sugared drinks may cause you to avoid a quasi-diabetic headache if drinking sugarless caffeinated drinks (including unsweetened tea and unsweetened coffee).
A simple experiment would be to consume, say, a 200mg caffeine pill, between meals, and with only some water, or about two cups of black coffee or three cups of black tea. Does that give you a headache?
Another simple experiment would be to consume a sugarfree cola artificially sweetened with something other than aspartame. Does that give you a headache?
Yet another would be to consume an unsweetened and uncaffeinated fizzy drink. Does that give you a headache?
It is indeed kind of late for this but still: They switched from the regular high glucose beverage to the aspartame version. I don't see the levels of caffeine intake changing much here. This is not the way to get Aspartame off the hook.