Mountain Dew Lantern: Does This Really Work?

I got an email the other day with a video on how to make a Mountain Dew Lantern. The video made it look very easy, using common household products to make a Mountain Dew bottle glow. Since my son is very interested in science, we decided to test the Mountain Dew Lantern ourselves.

Mountain Dew Lantern: The Ingredients

According to the video, the ingredients needed to make a Mountain Dew Lantern is baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew (not diet).

Since I had all the ingredients to make a Mountain Dew Lantern except the Mountain Dew, we trekked to the corner store and purchased two bottles of pop.

Mountain Dew Lantern: The Recipe

Once we had all of our ingredients to make the Mountain Dew Lantern, we carefully poured out all but one-quarter inch of Mountain Dew into a glass. Note: It is one-quarter inch of pop, not one-quarter bottle.

Next we added a very small amount of baking soda to each pop bottle. The baking soda foamed a little when it hit the Mountain Dew.

The last step in making the Mountain Dew Lantern was to add three capfuls of hydrogen peroxide. We used a funnel, because I didn't want a huge mess.

Once the hydrogen peroxide was added, the video told us to screw the lid back on the pop bottle and shake like crazy. So we did.

Mountain Dew Lantern: The Results

I am sad to report that the Mountain Dew Lantern did not work. We tried tweaking the recipe a bit, adding more Mountain Dew, more baking soda, less hydrogen peroxide. Nothing we tried worked. Our Mountain Dew Lantern would not glow in the dark.

I googled the term 'Mountain Dew Lantern' to see if others had tried this experiment. Several people had tested the Mountain Dew Lantern with similar results to ours, although a few claimed they actually got it to work.

Mountain Dew Lantern: The Conclusion

It was the common consensus in the comments thread underneath the Mountain Dew Lantern video that the video had been edited and another substance had been added to the mix. Some suggested the person in the video actually broke open a glow stick and poured the 'glow stick juice' into the pop bottle. Others said if you use a concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide, the Mountain Dew Lantern will work.

I tend to agree with the first option that 'glow stick juice' was added to the pop bottle to make it glow in the dark.

Mountain Dew Lantern: The Lesson

Because we went into this experiment open-minded, neither I nor my son were disappointed in its failure. We learned several lessons from trying to make a Mountain Dew Lantern.

1. You can't use hydrogen peroxide and baking soda to make Mountain Dew glow.

2. You can't believe everything you see because video can be edited, photos can be altered.

3. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Source:

"Mountain Dew Glows!!", www.metacafe.com