Mentos and Diet Coke

When we begin gathering as a family at Grandma and Grandpa Dixon's home in Jerome last July for our family reunion, the teenagers wandered down to the corner grocery store and came back with the makings of a real science experiment - a couple of six packs of Diet Coke and a generous supply of Mentos. The combination of Diet Coke and Mentos causes a wonderful chemical reaction, which is explained on Wikipedia as the "nucleation-site theory - the surface of the mint Mentos is littered with many small holes, allowing CO₂ bubbles to form very rapidly and in great quantity, in turn causing the jet of foam."

At the request of another Flickr photographer, the following photo is now part of the Planet Mentos group pool of photos.

The initial trials led to all sorts of interesting experiments.

Ryan proved that he couldn't keep Diet Coke and Mentos in his mouth at the same time!

The moral? Eat, drink and be merry - but not Diet Coke and Mentos at the same time!

Standing Around with the Family

Reaching back into the summer, here are couple of memorable photos from the Dixon family reunion. They bring new meaning to the phrase, "just standing around."

I love standing around with these folks!