Amelie asks…I think the YouTube video that shows how to make soda pop explode with Mentos is really cool. I was wondering if you did the same thing with a bath bomb, what would happen? Since bath bombs are fizzy, they should explode even more than Mentos. So my question is, which are more explosive bath bombs or Mentos?
The Left Brain responds:
I love questions like this because they can be answered by doing a scientific experiment. Do you know what else I love? New fans for the Beauty Brains Facebook page! So, if you want to learn the answer to Amelie’s question, watch our Facebook exclusive bath bomb experiment video. And while you’re there, please become a fan of our page!
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Here’s my questions -
1: Why is it always DIET Coke in these things? Wouldn’t any soda do or is there some special chemical reaction you can only get with the mix of Coke and artifical sweeteners?
2: What if you could drop in a whole bathbomb rather than a small one? Surely one could easily make a container that has the same shape as a Coke bottle but big enough to fit a large bathbomb in it. Since you don’t reclose the bottles I would assume that the pouring action would not disturb the bubbles so much that it would ruin the experiment.
@Jamie: Diet soda is used be because it leaves less of a sticky mess than the sugar containing colas. It doesn’t impact the reaction.
It seems like you’re really pushing us off this blog. No, I don’t want to follow you on Facebook, I don’t like Facebook. I don’t want to buy stuff either, in fact if you are sponsoring something it makes me trust you less. This used to be my favourite blog, and a much needed scientific addition to the ooooh it’s got ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS on it!
So I feel a bit grumpy.
@Anna: Thanks for caring enough about our blog to leave a comment, we really do want to hear your thoughts (even if you’re feeling grumpy
)
Our intent is not to push anyone off the blog- in fact it’s just the opposite. We’re experimenting with how to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to drive more readers TO the blog. To make that work we need to spread the word in the FB community and the way to do that is to get more Fans. Offering occasional, exclusive content on FB helps us increase our fan base. But this blog will ALWAYS be our primary focus and the “heart” of the Beauty Brains community.
Does anyone else have any thoughts?
Admittedly I’ve been in a bad mood lately so that’s going to effect what I say – but frankly, I think people like Anna need to take a chill pill! No one is putting a gun to your head and FORCING you to join Facebook. There’s no gun to your head saying “JOIN FACEBOOK OR DIE!” It’s simply a good way to advertise freely. As for the ads on the site – well, like it or not people need money to be able to live and the BBs are human beings, not robots. They need money for food, rent, toilet paper, clothing, etc. And I know that rotating ads aren’t controlable. They are triggered by keywords. You could type up a list of silly words and I assure you an ad containing one or more words from it will show up. Don’t like looking at the ads? Guess what? IE 8 and 9 have ad blockers already installed. For Chrome and Firefox you can download Adblock Plus for free.
BBs, I apologise for going off topic like this. Like I said, I’ve been in a really foul mood lately. But I am getting sick and tired of whiny posts like above. If people don’t like what they see or read, they don’t have to see or read it. Yet they act like they do. I don’t get why they complain when they can simply just walk away. Plus, frankly, I’m very defensive when it comes to people I respect, admire, and/or care about. And since I respect and admire the BBs even if I don’t always agree, I always feel I have to defend when I see things like above.
@Jamie: Thanks for sticking up for us! You’ve always been a great supporter. (But we don’t look at Anna’s comment as “whiny” – she was just voicing an opinion. It looks like a lot of the Beauty Brains community are grumpy this week.
)
Hey, I’m kind of with Anna. I use Facebook to keep up with friends and family but not to buy/read ads/play games. It would have been nicer for me if you’d explained the result here and linked to FB for the video, for example. So that those of us who just want the answers can get them here while those that appreciate the Facebook tool can participate there.
Okey, it surprises me that nobody has mentioned the episode of mythbusters (or maybe I’m the only one who’s geeky enough to watch that show..) were they very thoroughly tested the phenomenon. Long story short, they found that diet coke actually worked better than the regular one and that the was the structure of the mentos-suface that triggered the reaction. So I guess the bath bomb result wasn’t too surprising, even though it would have been fun with a little more splash
I mean, it’s called a bath bomb…
@Lily: Thanks for the heads up on the Mythbusters episode. (We LOVE that show but must have missed that one!) We’re surprised that the sugar-free nature of diet drinks makes a difference in the reaction but we totally agree that the surface configuration of the Mentos is what triggers the reaction.
If anyone has an answer on why diet is better than regular soda (back to Jamie’s original question), we’d love to hear it!
@Grace: Thanks for your feedback. Since it seems to be a concern, we’ll reconsider how we post material to Facebook in future blog posts. We’re here to serve!