...And Then 1700 People Died.

I've never done diet coke and mentos, but when I was in grad school a couple of us put some liquid nitrogen in a 2 liter bottle and left it in the middle of the park at the center of campus. To be fair, we made sure no one was around, but yeah it was not the wisest thing a bunch of grad students have ever done. The cops that stopped by when they heard the explosion were unamused but thankfully didn't haul us in.

As a cameroonian, I can confirm this is so true. People don't live around that area anymore. We say "lake nyos has belch" just so we insert some fun in this horrific situation. By the way, your pronunciation of lake nyos isn't correct but that's not an issue.

So much death, and yet not a single fly nor a single sound. I can’t imagine how horrifyingly apocalyptic such a scene must’ve been. It’s like everything in the area just got simultaneously raptured and dropped dead. It’s the type of event we would have called biblical if it happened and was written down before modern science. Next level scary shit.

There's a phenomena called "olfactory fatigue" which is when you smell something for long enough your nose stops smelling. Not permanently, just temporarily until your removed from the smell and your nose readjusts back to normal. Sulfur is particularly quick to cause olfactory fatigue. So people can be tricked into thinking the air no longer smells bad, but really nothing changed thier noses just got fatigued. This is a dangerous thing and why no matter if a space smells OK or not, the air should be monitored by air monitoring equipment for proper safety.

I first saw the Cameroon stories a few years back when James Cameron did a documentary on the biblical plagues of Egypt. The Nile ran red with "blood" (iron deposits), resulting low oxygen levels in the water caused fish to die, frogs left the water, and... all the first born Egyptian males died. It was thought that the heavy clouds of gas released form the Nile drifted into the low lying areas of the city. First born males were the heirs to the family assets and got to sleep in a special place in the home... the basements.

Co2 being released from pressure is cold. Those blisters are frost bite.

That face you make at 3:14 after whispering "That's the sound of water crying" will haunt me until the end of days. Thank you Joe. Just thank you.

"Still a better love story than Twilight" One of the countless reasons why I really love you and your content. Thank you, Joe.

One of my uncles was home brewing beer in a multi-gallon "beer bomb"; a spherical plastic container with a pressure release valve. He striped down the bomb and cleaned it, reassembled it, put his brewing mixture in, and left it. A week or so later, he discovered that he had reassembled the pressure valve back to front; when he came home to find an exploded beer bomb and a bedroom drenched in beer.

I remember seeing the news reports when lake Nyos exploded, it was shocking to see so much death. I've since thought of it, on and off, as the lake that farts very deadly. I'm glad to see that measures have been taken to lessen its impact in the future.

this subject is super serious but i cant stop laughing at the under pressure bassline why is it so comedic to me

Here i was thinking 1700 people died from dumping mentos into diet cokes?...

Fun fact: Nyiragongo is probably the only volcano in the world that looks like people usually imagine volcanoes: a hollow mountain with a lava lake in the middle.

I found out through personal clumsiness that diet versions of sodas are actually not sticky. This makes cleanup so MUCH easier.

I remember seeing a documentary about the Lake Monoun tragedy many years ago. The marks on the bodies were found to be compression sores. It is believed the people lay unconscious for some time before they eventually died, this allowed time for the sores to develop on the motionless bodies. These were the findings at the time, so new evidence may have arisen since then .

Joe can I just say how much I appreciate your Channel... I love all your videos, but this time I was on the verge of a panic attack because of stuff I don't really want to get into right now... your dry humor made me laugh and actually feel better. Thank you

I am Cameroonian and this still brings chills even now. I have tried to explain it to several people I know, but there is still skepticism among people here about what happened. The name is lake “Niyos”

as a mid 30 year old its amazing how much Joe is able to find we simply had no idea was out there. freaking love this channel and always look forward to mondays

2:49 and my brain immediately fills in "Ice ice baby" despite me being a massive Bowie fan. Mope 🥺

Gosh I love watching your videos. I'm at the edge of my seat in the beginning of the video and every time I think "oh wow what a big tragedy" then you pull out the "It happened again but bigger" I'm blown away every time