One upping Dave: A Diet Coke and Mentos Rocket!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by fimmel

i just found this on funnyjunk though it was cool so http://www.funnyjunk.com/movies/158/...+Mentos/stream
/forest

Top That?? Ok. lol
For 58 cents a bottle, and absolutely no mentos, we sure did top that on Saturday.

Art, release the video (edited for the CD community of course)!!!

[Dylan]

Ok, on Sunday I did a couple more experiments; warmer than room temperature coke does not seem to work any better than room temperature coke, if anything it doesn't work as well, and cutting the Mentos in half appears to work a little better, but I don't think it was enough of a difference to help with launching.

I also tested a few launch systems, without much success. I think the main problem was that we tried alternatives to wrapping the Mentos in plastic wrap, none of which gave us enough of a time delay.
My cork-and-nail system didn't work, it leaked spectacularly. It might work with a really good cork, but it's more likely that corks are too porous to hold back that kind of pressure.

The closest we came to a launch was when I noticed that the Mentos had failed to come into significant contact with the coke, grabbed the bottle and shook it, and then the bottle shot out of my hands and between my legs and landed about 4 feet behind me!
Of course, my little brother and his friend thought that was hilarious, because as you can imagine a got a little wet.

Next time we'll stick to plastic wrap for the release system.

~Dylan

EDIT: I see Mentos has been added to the spell check.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Dylan

Ok, on Sunday I did a couple more experiments; warmer than room temperature coke does not seem to work any better than room temperature coke, if anything it doesn't work as well...

please elaborate. How much warmer was your hi-temp test Coke

and its not clear, for the hi-temp Coke testing, were you dropping mentos into open bottles and recording the height of the geyser, or were you trying to launch the bottles?

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

please elaborate. How much warmer was your hi-temp test Coke

and its not clear, for the hi-temp Coke testing, were you dropping mentos into open bottles and recording the height of the geyser, or were you trying to launch the bottles?

It wasn't much warmer than room temperature, it only sat in the car for a little while. I'll have to re-test that one.

I use geyser height for all testing, but we did not do a control bottle this time (my little brother wanted to use it for rocket testing instead).

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Art, release the video (edited for the CD community of course)!!!

Done! Here's the link to the video: diet-coke-rocket.wmv

*In the video some of the footage is made to look like a Live News broadcast, and there is a news ticker at the bottom of the screen. The contents of said news ticker are for humor only; they're rated G. And yes, we really did have an ambulance there watching us. But don't worry, no one was hurt or injured: the EMTs wanted to watch us launch off the bottles of Diet Cola.

I will say right here, that some of the best fun at parties can be bought for under $20. For about $13 and change we bought 20 bottles of generic Diet Cola at Wal-Mart. For $9 I bought 2,000 Post-It notes that we plastered the walls and some other stuff with.

[Dylan]

Haha, awesome!

I actually got to meet Bill Nye when I was like 12.

[anna~marie]

I have Bill Nye's signature (and a note from him!!)
He once did a show in Milford but no one was suppose to know about it

[Sam Lipscomb]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

And yes, we really did have an ambulance there watching us. But don't worry, no one was hurt or injured: the EMTs wanted to watch us launch off the bottles of Diet Cola.

Don't lie. I have EMT friends because it is in my best interests! I crash too often not to...

Originally Posted by artdutra04

For $9 I bought 2,000 Post-It notes that we plastered the walls and some other stuff with.

My room is gorgeous! As was Elgin's car...

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

Don't lie. I have EMT friends because it is in my best interests! I crash too often not to...

Holy cow, is that your car?!

What happened?!

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

...I have EMT friends because it is in my best interests! I crash too often not to...
...

I recommend you dump the EMT and start dating a chauffeur!

by the time you need an EMT its too late

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Dylan

Holy cow, is that your car?!

What happened?!

Sam can explain it better but the story I heard was that she was cut off coming home one night on a very busy highway-type parkway road, and was forced off the road and into the woods.

They don't call her Crash Goddess for nothin' folks.

Originally Posted by artdutra04

For $9 I bought 2,000 Post-It notes that we plastered the walls and some other stuff with.

Yes Art, my car thanks you for the temporary beauty makeover.. LOL

[Sam Lipscomb]

Originally Posted by Dylan

Holy cow, is that your car?!

Sadly, yes. I went to Six Flags New England on opening day with Kim from 177 and Matt and Tom from 195, and after hanging out in South Windsor that night I drove home to Shelton. Someone cut me off on the Merritt; I served, spun out, and went off the road in the 50 feet between an overpass and the place where the guardrail started up again. My car tried to make friends with 3 trees at 65mph. It didn't work out so well for the car.

Basically, I'm lucky I didn't have a passenger. And I was wearing my seatbelt! Safety FIRST, all.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

Basically, I'm lucky I didn't have a passenger. And I was wearing my seatbelt! Safety FIRST, all.

I'm going to also say that you were lucky too!

Looking at the Cavalier's firewall and "A" pillar being pushed back you were lucky. Time to buy a PowerBall ticket!

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Sam Lipscomb

Basically, I'm lucky I didn't have a passenger. And I was wearing my seatbelt! Safety FIRST, all.

Seatbelts don't always save you. My uncle was hit by a speeding ambulance while he had his seat belt on, but it broke and he was thrown from the car. He actually ended up dying (but that was long before I can remember). I guess there are certain cases where it's good, others where it doesn't make a difference, and other times when it doesn't do you any good.

But, since it's the law, and more often than not, a good thing, it's always best to wear your seatbelt.

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

I'm going to also say that you were lucky too!

Im not so sure about luck. Id say many engineers put a good part of their careers and life-energy into designing that car - that was not luck, that was intentional design-for-surviability

Luck? - that would be if you had seen the car cutting you off a second sooner and been able to avoid the accident entirely :^)

I think the statistics are: one in four people will be in a serious car accident during their life time. Hopefully you have had yours now.