The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car: Mark II

Driver on closed track. Don't try this without professional help.
Exploring the limits of Coke & Mentos power, this is the new Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car: Mark II -- faster, farther, and even more soaking wet.
See our other Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car videos at www.eepybird.com/
Including the Coke Zero and Mentos Rocket Car: Mark I:
• The Coke Zero & Mentos...
And the Mark I in 3-D:
• 3D - The Coke Zero & M...
And see the Rocket Car: Mark II face off with the Mark I. Which goes farther: raw power or refined aerodynamics?
• The Coke Zero & Mentos...
Check out our Facebook at / eepybird
About The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car: Mark II
After years of work, we've harnessed the explosive power of Coke and Mentos and achieved human propulsion! 54 bottles of Coke Zero and 324 Mentos mints combine to propel EepyBird into the annals of bizarre records. After the success of the Mark I, this is the Mark II: smaller, lighter, sleeker, faster... And farther! Yep, this vehicle went farther than the Mark I, with just half the fuel.
The music track is System Countdown by our friends at AudioBody: www.AudioBody.com off their album Do Something Difficult.
How Does This Work?
This is one not to try at home.
The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car uses a piston mechanism: a six-foot long rod sits inside a six-foot long tube attached to each bottle of Coke Zero. When the Mentos drop into the soda, the pressure tries to push the rod out of the tube. With 54 rods all pushing at once, that gives us a lot of power.
All that power is pushing against a solid wall that's attached to a sheet of plywood that runs under the rocket car itself -- so the wall won't move, the rocket car will. We get one big push for six feet, and then it's all coasting from there.
Want to know what makes the soda fly out of the bottle? Will you explode if you drink Coke and eat Mentos? Click here to find out about the power of Coke and Mentos: www.eepybird.com/featured-vide...
Don't Try This at Home!
Seriously, don't try this at home. There is a huge amount of power involved, and we don't want you to get hurt.
What you can (and should) try at home is the Coke & Mentos geyser: you can get your own Coke and Mentos Kit: eepybird.portmerch.com/stores/... which includes nozzles just like the ones we use in our geyser videos, or you can click here: www.eepybird.com/featured-vide... to learn how you can make Coke and Mentos geysers with stuff from around your house.
Credits
The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car: Mark II by EepyBird: Fritz Grobe (the short one) and Stephen Voltz (the tall one). Music by AudioBody: www.AudioBody.com
Filmed in Oxford, Maine at Oxford Plains Speedway: www.OxfordPlains.com
Big thanks to Butch Lenberg and the gang at the Speedway for making that possible. Thanks to the EepyBird pit crew: Big Dave Tardy and Casey Turner. Captured on video by the one and only Mike Miclon, with able help from Shane Miclon and Brian Miclon.
The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car: Mark II was welded together by the incomparable S & T Productions, with an odd assortment of parts around a pedal car frame, by Nick Salvati and Big Dave Tardy.
And thanks to Coca-Cola Zero and Mentos for making this possible! Visit / cocacolazero and / mentosus

[@EepyBird]

@lifeisgood070 Thanks for the comments! We've been making improvements, including clamping down the pipes to reduce wobble, as well as working on the optimum temperature. So far, it looks like the warmer, the better. Our initial tests with a paddle/flywheel were not as successful as the piston mechanism used here, since a lot of what flies out is gas, but we should revisit that with what we've learned since.

[@FlatFifties]

You need to put reducers on the end of each pipe so as to increase the peak pressure while at the same time extending the time that the pressurized coke sprays out of the pipes.

[@1AAuto]

Great video guys. Pretty cool stuff.

[@kaimelis]

0 to 4 in 19 seconds!

[@WilliamsBallMusic]

Nothing but thumbs up for this one, guys! Way to think out of the box.

[@EepyBird]

@FireFighter214 They both work really well. The key is to use diet soda -- it's got more fizz (more power!) and with no sugar, it's not sticky (easier to clean up!).

[@kev1865]

HA HA HA.....That was FANTASTIC. The first time I watched it was with the sound OFF, so I noticed the "presentation" you guys did....it was the best part (high-water cover-alls....guy driving the car actually Sipping a soda....and all the other extras). GREAT VIDEO !!

[@Sunflower-mg1lk]

I love you epybird

[@EepyBird]

@ghostrid3 We're actually using a simple piston mechanism. Each 6' tube attached to the bottles has a 6' rod inside it. The pressure from the Coke Zero & Mentos reaction pushes the rods out of the tubes, so we get 6' of really strong push off the wall behind the car. We're mostly coasting after that.

[@EepyBird]

@jjrakman Definitely. :) Holes for the trigger mechanisms (pins that drop the Mentos into the Coke Zero) releases some spray. There's so much pressure involved, we had more spray released than we hoped for.

[@almostafarm6394]

Great horn! So you had to plug the pipes and get them to push the inserts against the vertical platform?

[@godbluffvdgg]

Being mechanically inclined; I would suggest taking the "exhaust" and recycling it with pvc elbows back through more mentos, then divert that "exhaust" from that. to the ground like a Harrier jet, point them rearward with beveled back ends 3/4 to 1 inch above grade. Also, reduce the 1 inch pipe to 3/4 inch at the end.

[@Wildflower90640]

Truly a Wright Brothers moment!

[@EepyBird]

@panhead1219 It doesn't need the color, but for some reason, it's worked better for us with Coke Zero & Diet Coke than with simple carbonated water. The soda may hold more carbonation for longer than seltzer water.

[@GregDeocampoogle]

Love the music!

[@alexmorgun851]

You lost a lot of power with L connectors!

[@almostafarm6394]

Do you know how to calculate how much loss?

[@EepyBird]

@tbone924 Most of the push comes in the first six feet, when the soda pushes the 6' rods out of the 6' tubes attached to the bottles -- we get more power out of that than out of the soda spewing out into the air. That being said, we are thinking about ideas like that to get even more power! :)

[@BFWilson]

great video, thanks for the geeky imagination and fun.

[@lifeisgood070]

Also might be a cool idea to think about optimum temperature for the coke and/or mentos. Adding them all at once or in a time delay by bottle or by time delay per bottle (more than 1 mentos dropped in a bottle separated by a time). & I think if you focused the pressure at a paddle type weighted flywheel connected to the wheels through gearing you would have a much higher mechanical efficiency. + you would have leftover inertia. With 54 coke bottles there's no doubt you could break 1/4 mile.

[@HandOfVOD]

I miss this

[@BruceBoppoTiemann]

@EepyBird Oh, is that what those are. I thought half your tubes blew off, although I didn't see any soda going up, so it couldn't be that. The heavier (denser) those rods are, the more thrust - up until the backpressure is such that things actually do burst.

[@zintradi]

@EepyBird why don't you try a new system where you ditch the bottle, put the coke in a chamber, dump the mentos in via a butterfly valve (so the chamber reseals after mentos delivery) then direct the "propellent" through a turbine that turns the wheels via a transmission?

[@kuladeeluxe]

The Challenge is set. Beat the record!!!. I would bet if you could harness all that energy, you could drive a Buggy a mile or so.

[@masturcheeef]

Pretty damn awesome!

[@EepyBird]

We worked in partnership with Coca-cola and Mentos on this. Check out the "About" section for full credits & collaborators. Thanks for watching!

[@mobohlen]

You need to use tubing that can expand and contract like an aorta so you dont loose all that power from leaks... Plus if the tubing is can expand it will be able to conserve that energy. Cheers

[@ghostrid3]

was that the tubes at end of video coming off or were those inserts to tubes to narrow and concentrate the explosion of liquid

[@tbone924]

@EepyBird would you go farther if you spread out the release to two or three pulls so that your thrust would happen more than just once? Or would three smaller thrusts give diminishing returns? Am I making sense? sorry, not sure on all the scientific mumbo jumbo :)

[@magicorubik]

THIS GUYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@EepyBird]

@zintradi Nice idea. If we put it all in a chamber, we'll lose a lot of carbonation as we pour it in, but we're experimenting with ideas like that. And on the unscientific side, we do like the look of all those bottles.

[@SanjiKunTheLoveCook]

make an air tight seal around the bottles and the pipes so that the gas won't go wasted next time, you might even double the distance!

[@EepyBird]

@TEHTYMEKITTEH1 We initially tried to have the bottles on their sides so that there was no bend, but we couldn't get the trigger mechanism to work well. But our tests suggest we're not losing much power from the bend.

[@meegul304]

@chrishiner That would not be entirely accurate because there is a minimum amount of liters needed to overcome static friction, but in theory, yes.

[@seyr47]

That is pure win.

[@dangerrangerlstc]

I wonder how much more distance you could get if there weren't so many leaks. I realize it's probably hard to get that 100% sealed, but all the loss of pressure there means loss of distance. How much time did it take to build something like that anyway? Lot of PVC in there.

[@CIREM3]

Fuel of the future

[@cheekys124]

I like how half of the soda was wasted on the start of the car for it to start moving

[@MyBigDing]

Days like this make me proud to be an American

[@AdaptiveRider]

Where do you get the funding for stuff like this? Who built that whole frame?

[@pavelham]

The cluster of pipes reminds me of a pipe organ (lying sideways, of course) which causes my brain to wonder if a variety of different size pipes with little pipe organ holes in them (sorta like whistles, I think) would create a new kind of music?

[@lifeisgood070]

The bends should be a bigger gauge than the pipe exit. Need to figure out a new dropping method for the mentos so you don't lose pressure Should combine all the pipes into one larger pipe to reduce fluid friction loss Possible shorten pipe exit Should have mounting brackets on the pipes to stop "wobble" I'm assuming the coke bottles are open - what about pouring them into 1 vat? Then you could control the volume & pressure seal much better Also thinner tires, but i'm guessing its too heavy

[@blainy-o93]

Someone's been playing too much Garry's Mod

[@kittenbot4217]

blainyrules or bad piggy

[@DHGameStudios]

Nextup: Cola and Mentos powered flying machine. And after that, a rocket Ship.

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Deploy the face off with the pipa kidnapper 😂

[@PixelVonDix]

amazing.

[@ernestocardoso567]

this is cool

[@yosephxd9681]

I would be at the back of that slurpin all of dem coke

[@kittenbot4217]

Lol

[@MB7classical]

@pavelham Ha! I love that idea. : D

[@carloscardenas1185]

increible

[@ReleaseTheMonster]

@CruelMaple I was thinking the exact same thing!

[@ghostrid3]

@EepyBird Ok, that makes sense now. However, I was under the assumption this was a rocket propelled car, being moved the by force of fluids and not pushing a piston against a wall to push the car. Just sayin'

[@WhoStew]

Ice Mentos car, sweet love to be a bee or a Yellowjacket going down the street

[@cyclops3257]

@godbluffvdgg I would suggest using classic coke.. it's just a better product.

[@jimbo081]

Nice to know we have an alternative when gasoline runs out.

[@jhhwild]

Now this is what I call an alternative fuel source.

[@jk7350]

woooow first the moon now this ! go mankind, go !!!

[@mftran]

I actually did the math for the amount of bottles to achieve the distance to the moon. I could probably also calculate the realistic amount too. lol

[@Marinemauro]

Now THIS is what I call science...

[@DaveCharbonneau1]

Perhaps VirginAir could use this tech for the upcoming space flight? I won't go on the flight, but I'd be at the launch site with my 64 oz. cup collecting the manna from heaven.

[@BilWil1963]

Would it be cheating to use one tank full of DC and drop in a bunch of crushed mentos with the full explosive impact expelling through one jet like nozzle for optimum thrust?

[@kulokawa009]

wish myth buster can do that again

[@tylervw]

@JuanRojas956 Coke doesn't quench thirst, it's a diuretic.

[@Nadirion1]

Wouldn't mounting coke bottles upside down help with propulsion, since you'd be expelling liquid, not gas

[@BlueSun1971]

This was so funny. At least Coke Zero is less sticky than diet or the original. I mean if you're gonna wear it.

[@tonydunc]

how man more refinements before you are ready for Indy or Daytona? You can factor in that you don't have to go as fast as those cars because they will be sliding on your propulsive discharge

[@tsiya2]

You need wings on that thing!

[@tillo8342]

Nice

[@703tomato]

Sneak in a downhill test track and you'll surely make new records

[@rvndmnmt1]

@EepyBird Might work better because coke has high levels (but safe to consume) of phosophoric, carbonic, and citric acids. Might be the acid content working as a catalyst improving cokes yield over soda water. But I am no chemist. Just an armchair observation.

[@FireFighter214]

Does coke zero work better than diet coke?

[@evan9510]

dude, zat cool

[@commentwarrior5539]

The true coke usage

[@beibit52]

Wow

[@nikostirfaka]

almost hit the speed of sound.....

[@CyclingChefDiane]

no HD? :(

[@poodie56]

gotta love science.

[@kevin.feng1]

375?! how much Coke did they use?

[@penguinistas]

2:20 You have afterburners.

[@11364312cs]

i'd like to drink it

[@katosnook]

Wow! Si se considerara que el tipo pesa 70kg, el carro 20kg, cada botella de coca-cola (2 litros) 2kg(54), serian aproximadamente 200 kg. De ahí, 1960 Newtons. Los 209 pies son 63.7 metros. Hubo un trabajo de (masa*distancia): 124,852 J aprox. Y si se tomara el tiempo del video (lo que recorrió el carro) que fueron como 14 segundos... La potencia seria de (trabajo/tiempo): 8, 918 W aprox. En resumen, cada botella lanzaria un trabajo de 2,312 J y una potencia de 165.1 W Claro, un aproximado.

[@nikitanews266]

wow

[@saikoyama]

Let's see that again!! 1:48

[@kincriET]

鉄腕DASHでこんな実験あったな。

[@Cat_Lynx]

try bacabenate of soda and vinegar car much faster oh and make sure u have brakes lol

[@itsaaronnota-aron3490]

thats cool

[@EepyBird]

Thanks, Aaron!

[@SirKittyMcMittens]

Holymoly imagine all that my coke rewards points they got!!

[@BryonLape]

With a better seal on the bottles, the car could go further.

[@popovic011]

Somebody call the mythbusters

[@TheThirdSun]

AN INSPIRATION TO ALL THINGS AUTOMOTIVE.

[@marouanedu95]

coup de burst !!!!!!!

[@StimpsonJCatEsquire]

Next.... The WORLD

[@Adrianwut]

This is the new rocket fuel guys!

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

It's big and we already built a rocket bullet 😂

[@CatfishCameras]

I heard it was more like 4.5 billion

[@nbkbambus]

random number FTW !!

[@hyperdude54]

This is SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER! (only a few people will get this)

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

Dupa Lupa?😭

[@swift9224]

0:38

[@ipadllave5156]

isnr that a world record?

[@MUNTraiano]

you should have measured maximum speed and acceleration

[@unknownname8648]

is this real

[@Posterdude95]

we don't need to use fuel anymore! :D

[@danthemanzizle]

its not a rocket, see all the pistons that got ejected at the begining? its some kind of piston driven internal carbon dioxide dissolution engine.