One November afternoon in 2005, lawyer Stephen Voltz traveled to the tiny town of Buckfield, Me., to watch his friend, professional juggler Fritz Grobe, perform in a sketch comedy show. While Grobe prepared for that evening’s show at the Oddfellow Theater, Voltz passed the time by dropping Mentos candy into Diet Coke bottles.

Just as another friend had predicted, the bottle exploded, releasing a fountain of soda. After doing this experiment several times, both Voltz and Grobe became so intrigued by the effect that they decided to record a video for a segment on that evening’s show. “We kept thinking, are we crazy or is this cool?” says Voltz.

Source: Business Week