Diet Coke and Mentos

My kids just crack me up. We've started giving our kids the choice of cash or a party for their birthday. They also get their choice of a family activity and their choice of a cake. My kids have birthdays about a month apart.

Well last month was my oldest son's birthday. He chose cash. In the past we've literally had the cash they bought what they wanted and I gave them the left over cash when they were done. This past month my husband was the "holder of the cash" and he did buy the two playstation games my son wanted but the excess cash never made it back to my son and he never asked for it. He was happy with his two new games.

Last night the youngest one comes up to me. His birthday is Sunday. He tells me that he wants ME to hold his money because HE wants the left over cash! LOL. He's too smart for his own britches some times! (He's turning 8).

Here are some recent pictures of the boys doing a "diet coke and mentos experiment":

First you go buy 2 liters of diet coke (we bought multiple so both kids could try it). Then you buy a package of mentos (I'd recommend a full pack per bottle - we did half a pack and didn't get the results we really wanted). Then you complete the following steps...

1. Carefully set up the bottle of diet coke in a wide open area. We had a little plastic tube that came with our mentos (at the $1 store!) that was just for "loading". Anyways, get it all set up to go. We also used a small stick to keep the mentos seperate from the coke till everyone backed up.



2. We used a stick to keep the mentos from dropping into the coke until we were ready.



3. Then the appointed child pulls the stick out and RUNS so they don't get doused with diet coke.



4. Enjoy the sight of the spewing diet coke.



I think the record height for this is around 20-30 feet in the air. Ours was more like 10. But we used about a 1/3 of a tube of Mentos. So I'd try a whole pack. Supposedly salt and a few other things also cause an enhanced reaction.

Well, I gotta get ready for work. Have a Happy Friday!

Jane