# What's going on in this video? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784 "2012-02-04T20:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/1 "2012-02-04T20:02:57Z")
Actually, it’s an animated gif, and it’s totally safe for work. (I know it ends in “jpg” but it appears to be a misnamed gif.) [http://www.pixdaus.com/pics/1327931662VS6Sy1r.jpg](http://www.pixdaus.com/pics/1327931662VS6Sy1r.jpg) Okay. Obviously what’s going on is the guy throws the soda bottle and, after a few bounces, it takes off like a rocket from the pressure of soda squirting out. But how? Obviously he was expecting something interesting to happen, else why throw the bottle, and why record it? Did he expect this? How did this work? Did the lid just happen to come off when the bottle was pointing down? Did the guy get lucky? Was the bottle rigged somehow? Is this just something that will happen if you bounce a bottle around enough? Did he just do this repeatedly for the camera hoping that something interesting would eventually happen? Is the video faked? ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/2 "2012-02-04T20:04:53Z")
The reason for the gif is that it hit the camera. Yes, he expected it to take off. There are a lot of YouTube vids of kids doing this. ETA: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2wfppG7Tt0k/hqdefault.jpg "Diet Coke and Mentos Rocket: The Best Way") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wfppG7Tt0k) . ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/3 "2012-02-04T20:09:03Z")
I’m curious about the physics of this. What makes it stand up before it takes off? It seems like it would be more likely to simply lay on its side and spin around, or shoot across the ground. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/4 "2012-02-04T20:13:32Z")
Ah, you added that link after my last post. I didn’t think about Mentos being involved. I still don’t understand why causes it to go vertical. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/5 "2012-02-04T20:58:07Z")
I have a feeling this video is edited. But it’s possible for the bottle to bounce like that. The reaction starts while it’s still bouncing on it’s side and could help propel it into the vertical position. But it’s all too clean looking. Also, the bottle stays suspiciously in focus as it rapidly approaches the camera, but maybe modern video equipment can do that. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/6 "2012-02-05T07:47:54Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Ah, you added that link after my last post. I didn’t think about Mentos being involved. I still don’t understand why causes it to go vertical. It’s just chance. The thrust happened to come on exactly when the bottle was positioned perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-this-video/611784/7 "2012-02-05T17:28:34Z")
It’s the Mentos in a diet Coke thing. I saw the original on a rerun of America’s Funniest Videos a couple days ago. The guy put the candy in the soda then put the lid back on expecting it to explode. When it didn’t, he threw in on the ground and you see what happened in the clip.