I confess. I’m not a fan of diet soda. Quite honestly, I can’t think of a better way to use diet soda than to make a snow-cano in the back yard, because I certainly won’t be drinking it. For the first time ever, I appreciate diet soda.
It’s worth noting any carbonated soda may be used in this experiment, but diet soda has more dissolved carbon dioxide than regular soda. Plus, diet soda contains ingredients regular soda doesn’t which happen to lower surface tension. Read, more bubbles.
Before you gather your ingredients, be aware you can use table or rock salt. I used rock salt because it will drop quickly to the bottom of the bottle. This allows the bubbles to form and escape faster. Also, it’s easier to handle rock salt in a tube than fine grains of table salt.
What You Need:
- 2 liter bottle of diet cola
- 3 tablespoons salt (table salt
or rock salt
)
- Snow
or 
)Directions
Step 1
Warm the bottle of diet cola in a hot water bath for about 30 minutes. Place the bottle in the sink and fill it with hot water from the tap. Note: This step isn’t necessary, but warm soda releases more bubbles and will produce a taller geyser. The molecules in warmer liquids move around more than cooler liquids, consequently the dissolved carbon dioxide gas in soda is released more readily.
Step 2
Make a cylindrical tube from a thin sheet of plastic or paper. Roll the sheet so it’s slightly smaller in diameter than the diet cola bottle’s opening and tape it closed.
Step 3
Go outside and build a volcano in the snow. Form a 2-liter-bottle-sized hole in the top of the volcano for the diet cola to set in.
Step 4
Place the bottle of diet cola in the volcano and unscrew the cap.
Step 5
Fill the tube with the salt, while plugging the bottom hole with your fingers.
Step 6
Ready, set, drop! Move your fingers from the bottom of the tube and quickly drop the salt into the diet cola. Swiftly step away and watch the geyser spew foam!
Explanation
Mixing cola and salt produces a physical reaction called nucleation. This is different than the chemical reaction produced by mixing baking soda and vinegar. All of the molecules are already present in the diet cola, but salt provides a surface for the dissolved carbon dioxide gas in soda to form bubbles. If you look at salt under magnification, you’ll see the surface is pitted. The nooks and crannies are the key to triggering the bubbles’ formation.
I want to watch diet cola and salt volcanoes for days. Fulfill this wish by sharing your own snow-cano videos and photos on my Tamawi Facebook page or on Instagram with #Tamawi.