[♪ INTRO]
Aaah, that was refreshing!
There’s nothing like a nice cool drink on a hot day.
What’s your favorite refreshing drink, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
I love that one too! My favorite is strawberry lemonade.
Sometimes, Squeaks and I even have some soda as a treat. We love the tingly feeling!
[Squeaks squeaks]
Great question! That tingly feeling actually comes from lots of tiny bubbles.
People that make soda squirt the bubbles very quickly into the soda,
and then put a cap on the bottle so the bubbles don’t escape.
We can’t see all of the bubbles, but they’re inside the bottle with the soda!
What do you think happens when we open the bottle?
[Squeaks squeaks]
You’re right -- the bubbles start to get away!
I’ll show you!
Let’s open a new bottle of soda… and pour some
slowly and carefully into a glass. What do you see?
[Squeaks squeaks]
Right! We see bubbles start to float to the top.
[Squeaks squeaks]
Yes! We can see more bubbles if we give them
a place to gather. Let’s put a straw in the glass to show you what I mean.
[Squeaks squeaks]
Look! There are bubbles all along the straw.
Adding the straw gives them a place to gather, and from there they float to the top!
Now, I have this chenille stick...
it’s kind of the same shape as the straw. Do you notice anything else about it, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
I agree! It’s super fuzzy! I wonder what will happen if we put that in the soda instead.
Oh, look! There are a ton of bubbles on the chenille stick...
way more than the straw! It really helped the bubbles come out more quickly!
And I know a way we can make it even faster!
But this is going to get messy… so it’s a good thing we’re outside!
If you want to try this at home, you’re going to need some help from an adult.
And you should definitely wear safety glasses or goggles.
We’re going to use… a bottle of clear diet soda, some construction paper,
a card, some tape, and a pack of candies called Mentos.
First, we need to make a tube from the construction paper...and tape it closed.
Next, we’ll close off the end of the tube...and put all of the candies into it.
We’ll put our bottle of diet soda on a nice flat spot,
and open it very carefully...and put the lid aside.
Now, we’ll put a card over the top of the bottle...
and put the open end of the tube on the card. We want to line up the
opening of the tube with the opening of the bottle. I think we’re ready!
Let’s count to three...and then we’ll pull the card out from beneath the tube so
all of the candies fall into the soda bottle at once. Count down with me!
3… 2… 1… go!
[Squeaks squeaks]
Wow! That was amazing! The soda squirted out of the top of the bottle and went everywhere!
Let’s go back to the straw and talk about why.
Even though the straw looks and feels smooth...it’s really not.
If we could look really closely, we could see that the straw has all kinds of bumps on it.
The bubbles can stick to these bumps and grow bigger,
then eventually float up to the top of the liquid.
The chenille stick is even fuzzier and bumpier… so we see even more bubbles on it than on the straw.
Now, Mentos are also covered with cracks and bumps. So...when we drop a bunch of them into
the soda at once, the bubbles form very quickly. As they rush out of the bottle,
they’re forced through the top like water through a hose.
And presto — we have a fountain of soda!
We can’t see the bubbles that have left the soda, because they’re mixed into the air…
but we can see the candies. What do you notice about them, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
Well, they look smooth, but they sure made a lot of bubbles come out,
just like the fuzzy chenille stick!
What do you think? Could we make our soda fountain blast even higher?
What would happen if we used more candies, or fewer?
[Squeaks squeaks]
You’re right! I think we should experiment and see what happens!
Thanks for joining me here at The Fort! If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks,
Jessi, me, and all of our other friends, be sure to hit the subscribe button,
and we'll see you next time on SciShow Kids!
[♪ OUTRO]