But the conversation actually started as I reflected on my experiences as a child, and told Alexander about my first school detention. I was in Grade 2 and Miss Lindell gave me a detention for talking too much during class time (*sigh*...the story of my life....). My detention consisted of sitting at my desk with my head resting in my folded arms, face down. I don't know why we always had to do this in school, but I remember having to have my face close to the surface of the desk throughout my school years on quite a regular basis. The aroma of eraser shavings and glue still lingers in my olfactory memory bank. So there I was, head down, pouting, when a cleaning lady came in to start cleaning the surface of the desks. I sat at a desk with three other students, in a cluster of two on two desks, symmetrically facing each other. A kid named David sat right across from me, and boy, would I love to say his whole name right now, because it always sounds more venomous and distinct and laden with disgust when you say a person's complete name. (Such as, "Ooooh. That Rhonda Bobinski is a nasty little vermin!" Doesn't that sound so much more venomous and distinct and disgust laden?) Well, David was a pretty gross kid by my standards, and the cleaning lady's following actions solidified that thought. It is a moment in time that I will never forget. She pulled out a window ice scraper from her apron, and commenced to scraping the dried snot that had glazed the surface of David's desk. One shocked, agape eye creeped over the edge of my frozen arms in horror. Am I truly seeing what I think I'm seeing!? Flakes of snot lightly, oh so gingerly speckled my arms. I still shudder when I think about it, and get a rancid taste in the back of my throat.
Yet, in retrospect, the use of a window ice scraping tool to take the snot off of David's desk is actually ingenious. Brilliant. Definitely not what it was intended for, but did a phenomenal job in dealing with something that was of similar consistency to a thin sheet of slippery ice. Kudos to that cleaning lady.
That's what made Alexander and I think about other objects that aren't used for their intended purposes. We really reflected on the quick and efficient beauty of using a sock as a mop. You just can't go wrong using a sock as a mop. And as an inventor, Alexander is constantly coming up with new and mind boggling ways to use a dishsoap container, barbecue skewers and a roll of duct tape. I even painted the quote, "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" (Thomas Edison) on the wall of his studio. The kid gets it...objects can definitely be used for other purposes beyond their intended purposes. He knows how to think outside of the box, and that may help him to get out of many a tricky situation somewhere down the line. And if not, at least he'll be a phenomenal recycler (or a hoarder, but I'm working on that with him.)
So the day that we decided to use Mentos and diet cola for purposes beyond their intention, things went a bit askew. Alexander was quite satisfied for a long time just making little vinegar and baking soda bombs....small little "pops" that made us giddy and the dog run away in sheer dread. But then one of my friends (we'll call him "Frank" for the sake of saving his identity) suggested that we try a different container; a film canister works well. You just have to wrap the baking soda in paper towel and then put it in the film canister with a bit of vinegar, close the lid and it will pop right off. So then our yard was filled with soggy, powdery paper towel blobs. Oh, and Alexander decided to try this experiment out at his buddy's house too, so their yard was also filled with soggy blobs. Then this concept started escalading, and Alexander wanted to try the diet coke and Mentos trick. It looked intriguing, I'll admit. We checked out some of the extreme measures that were taken with these rockets on good ol' youtube, and I definitely got the rocket fever. I announced a rocket launching at Laverty Park, and even invited "Frank" to take part on the action. We bought 5 two litre containers of diet cola and 5 packages of Mentos. We were ready for some action.
In theory, you are supposed to drop the Mentos, still wrapped in the aluminum foil, but not the paper, in the two litre bottle, quickly put on the lid, let the pressure build, release a bit of the pressure, then slam the container against a hard surface and watch it rocket hundreds of meters into the air. But I was unsuccessful. I guess I wasn't strong enough, because the bottle just kind of spiraled off the surface and quickly fizzled into nothing spectacular at all. This is where young, strapping "Frank" would be handy because he could use his strength to really smash that bottle against the surface.
Who knew that the rocket would not reach its potential destination as it was rudely interrupted by the presence of Frank's crotch? Who but his dear friends and their children and some passer-by spectators would witness a massive cola explosion on Frank's pants? I guess Mentos are just meant to be mints and diet cola is meant to just be a crappy excuse for thirst satisfaction. On a plus side, my friend's heroic actions have saved my son from going down the seedy, dangerous road of becoming a mad, bomb creator. Alexander became painfully aware of the consequences of a botched science experiment and has not mentioned rocket launching since. Thank you, "Frank", for being such a great sport.
And you know, there are shows made on television that focus solely on the idea of objects being used for unintended purposes. Ever hear of "America's Funniest Home Videos"? Supposedly they are in their 20th season of taking advantage of peoples' ludicrous uses of objects. I don't think pogo sticks were meant to be used for getting a cat off of a roof and I don't think trampolines are meant to be coated in butter. And I don't think that Frank intended on smashing two litres of a ricocheted soda bottle at full throttle towards his jewels, but we got it on video anyway.
Mentos and Diet Cola Youtube Inspiration
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