Math
Posts: 55
Location: Henry Clay | We were flipping through the channels last night and saw a Myth Buster program on the topic below. We taped as much as we could. It has the scientific why on it. I did this activity on the last day of classes with one of my Stats classes. They were seniors and exempt from finals so I had to do something to occupy the time. It was pretty fun and we got some interesting data. I think I might do it again since I am getting into the chapter on curved regressions. The website at the bottom is pretty cool.
(Hint, this really does spray high with few mentos if you are using Diet Coke. Don't waste your time on other drinks. The Mt Dew barely fizzled. We put meter stick on a light pole away from cars and important stuff so nothing got sprayed. Have a brave soul be the one to drop the mentos in, they might get wet.)
-----Original Message-----
From: Randal Blackwood [mailto:rb.math@cox.net]
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 10:12 PM
Subject: Nonlinear & Linear Data with Mentos & Diet Coke
I'm sure some of you have heard of the Mentos & Diet Coke "experiments". Without having any idea what our data would look like, I decided to take my kids out to the lawn and do a bit with Mentos and 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke (for what's its worth I actually used a cheap off brand version).
Here is the data they collected:
# of Mentos used: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16
Geyser Height (m): .15, .31, .62, 1.08, 1.23, 1.38, 1.85, 2.46
Amount of Pop Left in Bottle (mL): 1060, 860, 740, 705, 760, 641, 619, 625
(I also had them time the geysers, but the data was not very good, I may take a look at the video and see if I can get more consistant timings than what the students did with their stopwatches.)
The geyser Height was measured on video, and approximated using a meter stick as a guide for relative height.
The pop left in the bottle was measure with graduated cylinders back in the classroom.
The Mentos were placed into a test tube, a card was put between the test tube and the opening of the bottle, and then the card was removed dropping the Mentos into the open 2Liter bottles.
Anyhow, the data for the geyser height was EXTREMELY LINEAR: r^2=.9999792
The pop left in the bottle seems to be best fit with a Power Transformation, r^2=.91
If someone sees a better transformation, let me know.
I am really surprised about the linearity of the geyser height, especially the r value since the measurements are not that precise.
Anyhow, I thought some of you might enjoy a new non-linear data set to look at.
If you are not familiar with the Mentos-Pop scene, then I suggest you check out this great version: http://eepybird.com and check out Experiment #137 (100 2 liter bottles of Coke). Apparently they are getting ready to show a new video clip on Oct. 30 involving 500 2 liter bottles. My budget only alloted for 10 2 liter bottles, and I didn't do any of the fancy stuff they did.
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an activity for AP Stats teachers
