Saturday 26 April 2008

Reuters QuickCut: Soda fountain

Thousands of Belgian students participate in a soda and Mentos fountain record attempt.

A student association in Leuven, Belgium, arranged the record breaking attempt at a historical square in the city.

1360 students simultaneously placed a tube of sweets into a bottle of soda to create the fountains.

The mixture shot into the air covering the revellers in sticky fluid. The concoction of sodas and Mentos became popular on the website YouTube after two men, known as EepyBird, from the USA posted videos of them making the fountains.

The EepyBird website says the coke and mentos cocktail works because of a process they call 'nucleation' where the carbon dioxide in the soda is attracted to the mentos, creating enough pressure to form geyser-like fountains.

The two men, Fitz Grobe and Stephen Voltz who describe themselves as mad scientists were present at the event and said it was an 'astonishing' experience.

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