Mentos Power

Last Friday, I took Gina and Andrew to the California Academy of Science museum. I have been a member of this museum for about 8 years but I haven't visited since I was a kid. In the meantime, they tore down the old museum/aquarium and built a brand new one. I was excited to go, the kids were only somewhat excited. Once we got there, the only thing that Andrew really wanted to do was visit the museum store and buy something. After several hours of "When can we go to the store?", we made our way over there on our way out. The first thing he spied was a package containing Mentos and a tube that allows you to deliver the Mentos into a 2 liter bottle of diet soda. We were set!

The kids love a show called Mythbusters. I originally bought a DVD of the series for Vic for his birthday, and at some point, he showed it to the kids. Now, when I go out for errands, I often return to the kids glued to the TV, watching an episode of Mythbusters. It is a very cool show, especially if you like explosions and bigger explosions (my favorite is the exploding water heater that takes off like a rocket). A recent episode described the reaction of Mentos with a bottle of soda and the geyser that ensues. Andrew was hooked and has been dying to try this out at home.

So over the weekend the kids had fun doing this several times and creating lots of geysers. I think we went through 4 bottles of diet Coke. I had some pictures but can't find my camera so here is a picture of what it is supposed to look like: