The conclusion of my science fair project was that the Diet Coke and mint Mentos created a bigger fountain than the Dr. Pepper and mint Mentos. In addition, regardless of the type of pop, the mint Mentos created much larger fountains than fruit Mentos.
Some potential errors within this project were that there were multiple colors within the fruit Mentos so the trials with the fruit Mentos were not exactly the same. Since the mint Mentos were all white, the colors of the mint Mentos were consistent in all of the trials of mint Mentos. Also, while all of the pop bottles were 2 liters in size, the shape of the Dr. Pepper bottles was different than the Diet Coke bottles. This might have impacted how the funnel of pop went up and the amount of pressure behind the exploding fountain. The pressure would be impacted because as the fizz rises, it was compacted by the shape of the bottle’s funnel and mouth of the bottle. The fountain is forced up by the fizz in the body of the bottle which continues to rise. Another error that might have impacted this experiment is that some bottles may have sat on the shelf at the store longer than others. Research has found that carbonation levels decrease from plastic bottles made of PET, polyethylene terephthalate[1]. This is because carbon dioxide and air can diffuse through the plastic. Therefore, after sitting on the shelf in a warehouse or in a store a long time the soda would lose some of its fizz and this would impact the height of the fountain that would be created with Mentos. If I was able to control for these different variables, such as the shelf life of the pop and the form of the bottle, I would be more confident of the results from this testing.
The independent variable, the two different brands of pop, did seem to directly impact the dependent variable, which was the height of the fountain. Based on my results, I would recommend that when people want to make fountains with pop and Mentos, that they use Diet Coke and mint Mentos.
Some potential errors within this project were that there were multiple colors within the fruit Mentos so the trials with the fruit Mentos were not exactly the same. Since the mint Mentos were all white, the colors of the mint Mentos were consistent in all of the trials of mint Mentos. Also, while all of the pop bottles were 2 liters in size, the shape of the Dr. Pepper bottles was different than the Diet Coke bottles. This might have impacted how the funnel of pop went up and the amount of pressure behind the exploding fountain. The pressure would be impacted because as the fizz rises, it was compacted by the shape of the bottle’s funnel and mouth of the bottle. The fountain is forced up by the fizz in the body of the bottle which continues to rise. Another error that might have impacted this experiment is that some bottles may have sat on the shelf at the store longer than others. Research has found that carbonation levels decrease from plastic bottles made of PET, polyethylene terephthalate[1]. This is because carbon dioxide and air can diffuse through the plastic. Therefore, after sitting on the shelf in a warehouse or in a store a long time the soda would lose some of its fizz and this would impact the height of the fountain that would be created with Mentos. If I was able to control for these different variables, such as the shelf life of the pop and the form of the bottle, I would be more confident of the results from this testing.
The independent variable, the two different brands of pop, did seem to directly impact the dependent variable, which was the height of the fountain. Based on my results, I would recommend that when people want to make fountains with pop and Mentos, that they use Diet Coke and mint Mentos.