Science Week started off with a blast! This is quickly becoming my favorite week of DIY Summer Camp. We kicked it off with a Soda Geyser Eruption Experiment. Have you tried this? It is so easy and the kids loved it! Like with most of our activities, it is extremely inexpensive and simple to set up.
Do your kids enjoy science? Even if they don’t, they will enjoy this. My kids love anything they can mix together or that creates a chemical reaction. That is how I knew this would be a hit.
This post does include affiliate links. That means I could earn a tiny portion of any sale that is made through clicking on any of these products with no additional cost to you. All support is greatly appreciated!
Supplies for Experiment
To create the Soda Geyser Eruption Experiment, you only need two ingredients and one supply item.
- 2 Liter Bottle of Soda (Regular or Diet)
- Mentos Candy
- Tape
I purchased the store brand soda and it worked great! At only 59 cents a bottle, I decided to buy two. We used a regular and a diet to form a hypothesis on which one would how the largest explosion.
Preparing for the Experiment
We started this experiment by placing about seven pieces of the Mentos candy on a piece of tape. You could use any tape for this part. The purpose of the tape is to make it easier for the child to drop it down into the soda bottle.
Once you have the tape of Mentos candy, it is time to take this experiment outside! Open the bottle of soda and place it on the ground. Make sure you don’t shake the bottle because it could effect the outcome of the experiment.
Once the bottle is securely on the ground, let the child drop the tape of Mentos candy into the bottle. Everyone should step back and enjoy watching this process. It doesn’t take but a second for the eruption to begin!
Experiment Success!
Once the bottle starts spewing it is amazing to watch! The picture doesn’t do it justice so I posted a video below. Are you curious which soda had a more powerful explosion? Regular or Diet? In conclusion, the regular soda was actually more explosive in our experiment.
Why does this experiment work? We knew it had something to do with the carbonation in the soda bottle. For the full explanation on this reaction, we read about it on Compound Interest. They give a very thorough answer with great visuals.
I thoroughly enjoy finding fun activities like this one to do with the kids. I want them to continue to be explorers and enjoy learning and experiencing new things. The best part of doing a little experiment like this is watching their minds expand right in front of you eyes!
Once we finished the Soda Geyser, they continued to discover and explore in the backyard. They added dirt, rocks, little pine cones, and sticks to the bottle of leftover soda. Of course there wasn’t any sort of chemical reaction but it was still fun!
Once we were back inside later working on another experiment, Gavin asked me what would happen if we put the Mentos into vinegar. We enjoy the reaction of baking soda and vinegar and I think he wondered if it would do the same thing. So I let him drop some candy into a cup of vinegar. Again, there was no reaction but now we know!
