Two at a time, the tall bottles of soda blasted streams more than a dozen feet into the air over a courtyard at California State University, Sacramento, on Saturday.
Each time, the spectacular experiment led to the same conclusion: Mint Mentos and Diet Pepsi create a bigger explosion than if the candy is combined with root beer, orange soda, 7UP, regular Pepsi, Coke or even Diet Coke.
The experiment was part of more than 20 science sessions constituting "Expanding Your Horizons," an annual conference aimed at keeping girls in sixth through eighth grades interested in math and science.
Armed with tools such as M&Ms and Jell-O, synthetic blood and fake human bones, professors and scientists convened on the CSUS campus to teach some 370 girls about topics such as reflected light, blood types, biodiesel, nutrition and solar power.
Lidia Bayne, 12, would normally spend her Saturday sleeping in, riding her bike or doing chores.
But the Woodland eighth-grader decided a day of science – even wearing those dorky protective eye goggles – was better.
"We get to explode things," she said.
Bayne studied algebra last year and now dreams of becoming an engineer who uses math to figure out how to incorporate solar panels onto the top of cars.
"How many things are possible, how many things can be figured out, how many things in the world can be connected to math," she said.
Girls score the same as boys in science and math until middle school, when a gap starts to form, said Dawn Fritz, a member of the nonprofit Women of AT&T, host of the event along with the Sacramento State Center for STEM Excellence, which advocates for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Fritz works on data analysis and statistics at AT&T and is one of four women on a team of 20.
She believes her field's gender makeup should be more even.
"Women offer a different perspective, and it's important to have a variety of views," she said.
Cynthia Kellen-Yuen, an associate professor of chemistry at CSUS, credits a high school chemistry teacher for her enthusiasm and pursuit of a science career.
It's a choice especially difficult for women, she said.
"There's a preconceived notion at some point that being the smartest kid in class doesn't necessarily make you the most popular one," she said.
"It's not as big of a stigma for boys to be smart."
There's also an increasing demand for computer scientists and engineers – both civil and electrical, and women should have the opportunity to compete for those jobs, said CSUS computer science professor Scott Gordon.
Women make up less than 10 percent of the computer science program at the university, Gordon said.
"Women who go into the program do very well – it's not that they're less able," he said. "For whatever reason, there are societal reasons that steer girls away from engineering and computer science, and we think that's a shame."
This was the second year that cousins Lindy Torgerson, 11, and Sarah Spivack, 12, attended the conference. They attend Arcade Fundamental Middle School and both simply like science.
"It's just fun," said Spivack. "Life is so cool in general and science means you get to learn how life works."
Call The Bee's Gina Kim, (916) 321-1228.
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