diet coke + mentos = fun stuff

Theroy vs. experiment is a hot topic in the Hacking reading Representing and Intervening. Is one more noble or deserving of reverence more so than the other? Is expiriment based soley on a happenstance observation a violation of the scientific method? If scientists or ordinary people ignored the strange and unexplained events of life and raw observation was completely ignored, all sorts of interesting and useful endevors could easily be overlooked. Take for example, the mixture of Diet Coke and Mentos. For those of you unaware, this is a relatively new finding that the mixture of these two ingredients produces an extremely carbonated reatcion in the form of a foam gyser. The science behind the reaction, is legitamate enough. The air pockets on the surface of mint Mentos candies attracts the CO2 molecules from the Diet Coke and a chemical reaction takes place in which all the CO2 in the Diet Coke makes a rapid ejection from the rest of the liquid. As legitamate as the reaction behind the observation is, the actual experiment is kind of goofy and if legitamte science required a well-thought out theory before experimentation could take place, then accidental finds such as the Diet Coke/Mentos gyser would be left out of the science books...or at least off of TV. The show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel tested this reaction and the chemists behind the experiment were interviewed on their experience. Click here to read the interview from the Mythbuster's chemist: interview
And click here to see a video of the reaction first hand: video