Supersaturation and the Diet Coke and Mentos eruption!

Since I love to discover funny experiments, I have been searching for something interesting and found the famous Diet Coke and Mentos eruption experiment. This experiment became really famous all over the world cause of you tube videos diffusion. Recently there was a study made by Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, that explained the chemistry and physics behind this experiment. The group of Tonya Coffey summerized the results, concluding that the vigour of the jets depends on various factors that affect the growth rate of carbon dioxide bubbles and particularly the rough, dimply surfaces of Mentos that encourage bubble growth, efficiently disrupt the polar attractions between water molecules, creating bubble growth sites. Diet Coke, like also other carbonated beverages, is a supersaturated solution of carbon dioxide in water. At atmospheric pressure, the carbon dioxide gas escapes very slowly from the supersaturated liquid. This process may be accelerated by the presence of nucleation sites within the solution, such as small bubbles, caused by shaking the bottle, or another solute, such as sugar powder. If you are interested you can find more informations at the American Journal of Physics. Supersaturation happens when the solution contains more of the dissolved material than could be dissolved by the solvent under normal circumstances. For example, we can obtain supersaturated solutions by melting some salts like sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate and cooling slowly the solution obtained. By adding some crystals of the salt, that act as seeds, we provide a rapid crystallization of the system. Supersaturation experiments are really funny and could be an easy tool to attract young students to chemistry!