MINNEAPOLIS — Consider yourself forewarned. Do not try this experiment in the winter. Well, at least not in your kitchen. And, actually, never inside your home, regardless of the season. This is strictly an outdoors kind of thing.
Liz Lee Heinecke would offer this advice to would-be scientists of any age. But in the event that the younger set doesn’t pay attention — and they likely won’t — parents should.
It’s the soda geyser experiment that has thrilled kids for years. Empty a paper tube filled with Mentos mints into a liter bottle of Diet Coke and see what happens. (The name alone depicts the carbonated chemical reaction: soda geyser.)
This is one of 52 experiments from Heinecke’s first book, “Kitchen Science Lab for Kids” (Quarry Books, 144 pages, $24.99), recently published with 52 family-friendly experiments that make use of supplies readily found around the house. Heinecke takes kids — and their parents — through the step-by-step process of scientific method, with easy-to-follow instructions and photos.