Why does soda explode when you put mints in it?

Answer 1

Soda "explodes" because of the breakdown of Carbonic Acid into Carbon Dioxide and Water. H2CO3 --> H2O + CO2. But the reaction needs "nucleation sites" to get started; generally these consist of insoluble impurities, or previously created bubbles of Carbon Dioxide.

When cold soda is opened slowly, bubbles form, but they generally rise and pop before the reaction can cause any "explosion". Shaking the soda introduces gas bubbles, which provide many more nucleation sites. Increasing the temperature speeds up the reaction.

Mints have a very high surface area due to their roughness, and provide a huge amount of nucleation sites. Grinding them into powder first will increase the effect. Using activated carbon instead of mints would probably be even better, but it wouldn't taste as good afterwards.

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Answer 2

Soda erupts with mints or specifically mentos because of a few reasons, I did this as an experiment once and discovered the main reason is the cascade effect or nucleation (the mento has little dents in the mento which actually causes the bubble rate to increase in a small amount of time). The ingredients in the mento and soda also react when combined. The reactive ingredients in mentos are Gelatin and gum arabic. The reactive ingredients in soda or more specifically Diet Coke (the most reactive soda to the combination) are potassium benzoate, carbonated water, caffiene, and Aspartame.

Answer 3

cause mintos are mints and and soda has specil ingreedints to make it explode.

cause mintos are mints and and soda has specil ingreedints to make it explode.

Answer 4

b/c the chemical reaction causes them to, and whoevere is reeading this, get A LIFE AND LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOO)LOLOOPO)OLOLOOMG

Answer 5

The mint crystals act as nucleation centers for the dissolved carbon dioxide bubbles.