Why are there so many bubbles in Coke? Is there a chemical reaction?

On some ****, we can often see a very funny phenomenon of Coke + Mentos - throw a few Mentos candies into the Coke, and the Coke will suddenly erupt, like a volcanic eruption. Today we are going to talk about why this phenomenon occurs with cola and mentos.

First of all, we need to know that if we shake the sealed Coke, the carbon dioxide in it will decompose from the water after shaking, and the air pressure in the bottle will be high. Because this bubble is carbon dioxide. In the process of making cola, the plant uses equipment to compress carbon dioxide into a container at a high pressure.

The compressed carbon dioxide is in the form of carbonic acid, and the packaging seals the cola.

The appearance of this phenomenon is very similar to the condensation of water vapor in the air, a kind of nucleation, which requires the condensation of nuclei. When the Coke is bubbling, if you look closely, you can see that the position of the bubbles is fixed. These fixed positions can be imperfections in the glass, or impurities in the beverage, which are called frothing points or nucleation sites.

Nucleation requires energy: there is no cavity in the water itself for bubbles, and the newly produced gas must break the attraction between the water molecules to squeeze out a space to form bubbles. When there are condensation nuclei in the water, much less energy is required to form bubbles.

That's why the position of the bubbles is fixed. With that out of the way, let's go back and look at Mentos.

Mentos looks smooth on the surface, but under the microscope it looks like the surface of the moon, cratered, densely covered with protrusions and small craters. This is also the reason for the large number of bubbles.

According to food experts, chewing gum and mints often contain food additives such as gum arabic and gellan gum, whose main role is to improve the viscosity and softness of chewing gum. These two food additives are likely to accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from beverages on the one hand, and react with beverages on the other hand to produce more carbon dioxide gas, which is released instantaneously. So this process is not a chemical change, no new substances are generated, but a physical reaction.

Why is there a fountain phenomenon when Mentos joins Coke?

Because there is a sugar activator on the surface of the Mentos sugar, and the cola itself is made of carbon dioxide pressurized, the combination will cause an eruption, but this is not a chemical reaction.

Yes. It's because there's a lot of carbon dioxide in cola. The rough surface of Mentos allows the gas in the cola to evaporate at an accelerated rate.

This is because there is a lot of carbon dioxide in Coke, and then there are a lot of acids in Mentos, and the combination of the two will produce a super reaction, yes.

Acid-base neutralization reaction. This reaction releases heat and causes the water to warm up, so bubbles are formed, which I used to play with a lot when I was a child.

Because there is a reaction between the two, and it is a chemical reaction, the reaction is very strong, and the visual impact is very large.

When Coke and Mentos react, a large number of bubbles are produced. It's a chemical reaction. It's amazing.

01 Coke is able to produce a large number of bubbles and even spew out, relying on the gas dissolved in it - carbon dioxide. Mentos' rough surface accelerates the release of carbon dioxide from the cola, which is why this phenomenon is caused.

Coke can be ejected by the gas dissolved in it, carbon dioxide. The appearance of bubbles is similar to the condensation of water vapor in the air, which is a kind of nucleation and requires condensation of nuclei. Condensation nuclei can be imperfections in the cup (such as tiny cracks or protrusions) or impurities in beverages, which are called frothing points or nucleation sites.

Shaking the drink bottle encapsulates the gas inside the liquid to create bubbles that can also act as condensation nuclei.

Adding Mentos to Coke is like adding a lot of bubbles. The sugar appears to have a smooth surface, but under a microscope it can be seen densely covered with protrusions and pits.

Tonya Coffey, a researcher at Appalachian State University in the United States, has done a very in-depth study on the formation mechanism of the Cola Fountain. She experimented with different substances (e.g. different flavors of Mentos, sugar, salt, and sand) to try to find the combination that would spray the highest. In addition, she also examined the chemical composition of the cola before and after the reaction, and found that only the gas in the cola was less, and the other properties were not much different.

Some chewing gum contains gum arabic, which will decompose instantaneously when it encounters the phosphoric acid-carbonated aqueous solution reinforcement system in beverages, resulting in a large amount of carbon dioxide bubbles overflowing. A similar situation can occur with Mentos when it comes across other carbonated beverages.

Of course, there is a reaction, H2CO3 = H2O CO2