The reaction of when a regular mint (or fruit) Mentos is dropped into a bottle of diet Coke can create a fountain of soda. Without a nozzle, you will have a Coke fountain only about 5 feet high. With this, you can have a Coke fountain up to 10 feet! Here’s how to make your own nozzle for cheap.
Cut a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe that is 7 inches long and cement that piece to the 1/2" coupler (the small circle in the last pic).
Now the vertical part of the tee fitting (the larger circle) needs to be cut off with a hacksaw. Cut a piece of the thin plastic to fit over the hole of the "T". Hot glue the plastic to the cut to seal up the hole. Now cement the 1/2" coupler to one end of the tee.
I am using blue duct tape as a substitute for PVC cement!
Take the cap off of a new 2-liter bottle of diet coke. Using a Dremel tool with a cutting and grinding stone bit, cut the top out of the cap as seen in the photo so that it is hollow. Hot glue the cap to the other end of the tee. Make sure the assembly still screws onto the bottle before moving on.
Drill two 1/8" holes opposite each other so that the wire can fit through. Make a loop in the wire and tie a 5' length of kite string to the loop. This will be the trigger pin.
With the assembly in your hands, put 5 Mentos into the chamber and put in the trigger pin. Then, flip it over and screw it onto the bottle making sure the pin doesn't slide out in the process. It will then be armed and ready. Count down from 10, pull the string and a fountain will flow! Happy Making and be prepared to be soaked!
You may want the hole in the top of the assembly to be a bit smaller so that the fountain will be higher and/or last longer. Cut another piece of the thin plastic to cover the top end and use hot glue to secure it. Then use a 1/4" to 1/2" drill to make a hole in the plastic.
Conclusion
I have noticed that diet cola works the best when doing the Coke-and-Mentos explosion. Also, diet soda is less sticky to clean up.
Our websites use cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the Make: ecosystem. Out of these cookies, some are categorized as essential for the working of basic functionalities of our websites.
We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use our websites. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Your choice here will be recorded for all the Make: Community Websites.
Allow Non-Necessary Cookies
Send this to a friend
Awesome!
Thanks for signing up.
The reCAPTCHA box was not checked. Please try again.
We are all makers
I sort of had to give up this one so that I couldn’t make anymore projects. :(