Tricks explode into pop (and food) culture.

Byline: Jane Snow

If the words ``Diet Coke'' and ``Mentos'' do not immediately bring to mind the image of geysers of soda pop arcing into the air, the latest youth culture phenomenon has passed you by.

Until now.

Today we will teach you how to play with your food in a big way. And who better to help than a bunch of University of Akron fraternity guys? Blame the Internet for one incinerated toaster, a marshmallow-encrusted microwave and a frat house parking lot littered with plastic pop bottles.

``It's pretty exciting,'' said Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member Daniel Abraha, 25, when a gusher of Diet Coke rocketed about 10 feet in the air. ``I can see it enthralling kids in elementary, junior high, even high school.''

And college kids too, apparently.

The Diet Coke and Mentos phenomenon began in the misty reaches of time _ maybe six months ago _ when high school science teachers and nerdy pranksters began posting to the Internet videos of their Mentos-Coke experiments. The videos showed what happens when a few Mentos candies are dropped …