Steve Spangler

Last updated
Steve Spangler
Steve-Spangler-Headshot-2022.jpg
Spangler in 2019
Born (1966-12-08) December 8, 1966 (age 58)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation(s)Television personality
Author
Science teacher
Known forTelevision host DIY Sci
YouTube personality
Website https://stevespangler.com/

Steve Spangler (born December 8, 1966) is an American television personality, author and STEM teacher. [1] He was the CEO of Steve Spangler Science until 2018 when the company was sold to Really Good Stuff, LLC, a division of Excelligence Learning Corporation. [2] [3] Spangler posted the first Diet Coke and Mentos video on YouTube in September 2005 and his 2002 televised demonstration of the eruption went viral, launching a chain of several other Diet Coke and Mentos experiment viral videos. [4] [5] He earned two Heartland Emmy Awards and a total of five Emmy nominations. Spangler is an inductee of the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame. [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Career

Education work

Steve Spangler igniting methane-filled bubbles in the hands of a young teacher at Science in the Rockies 2011. Steve Spangler and methane fire at Science in the Rockies 2011 SWC201107088547.jpg
Steve Spangler igniting methane-filled bubbles in the hands of a young teacher at Science in the Rockies 2011.

Spangler's career began as a science teacher in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado. [9]

In 1992, Spangler began working as an adjunct faculty member at the Regis University in the Department of Chemistry. [10] He was the Executive Director of the National Hands-on Science Institute until 2001. [10]

Television work

During his first year of teaching, a producer from the Denver, Colorado NBC affiliate KCNC-TV offered Spangler a position as a science host on News for Kids [9] after seeing him perform a science demonstration show at a public event. [9] News for Kids premiered in 1991 and was picked up for national syndication in 1993, airing in 185 cities every Saturday morning. [9] After six seasons, Spangler produced 220 segments that featured simple science experiments that viewers could easily recreate at home.

In 2001, Spangler joined the Denver NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV 9NEWS as their Science Education Contributor. [5] [11]

The Diet Coke and Mentos eruption experiment was first televised by Spangler in 2002 and became popular on the Internet in 2005. [5] More than a thousand videos appeared online replicating the experiment. [5] Spangler was nominated for the Time 100 in 2007 because of the experiment. [4] He signed a licensing agreement with Perfetti Van Melle, the maker of MENTOS, in 2006 and developed a line of toys to be used with the experiment. [1] [11] [12]

Other work

Spangler is the author of seven books: Down to a Science, Taming the Tornado Tube, Bounce No Bounce, Fizz Factor, Secret Science, Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes, Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste. [13]

Spangler also runs the Sick Science! YouTube channel [14] and a TikTok account. [15]

Awards

Spangler received a Heartland Emmy Award in 1997 for his contribution the television program News for Kids. In 2010, he received a Heartland Emmy Award for Spangler Science - Weather and Science Day at Coors Field. [6] [8] Spangler also received a Guinness World Record for the largest physics lesson. [16]

Spangler was inducted into the National Speakers Association's Speaker Hall of Fame in 2010. [17]

In October 2011, Spangler was selected as one of 100 initial partners [18] for the YouTube Original Channel Initiative and received funding for the production of new original programming. [19] Spangler's YouTube show, The Spangler Effect, debuted February 1, 2012. [20] [21]

Personal life

Steve Spangler was born on December 8, 1966, in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a dual degree in chemistry and humanities in 1989. [13] [22] Spangler has three sons. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentos</span> Brand of mints

Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint-flavored candies owned by the Italian-Dutch company Perfetti Van Melle. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide. The mints are small oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior. Is sold in many stores and vending machines.

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YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, it is the second-most-visited website in the world, after Google Search. In January 2024, YouTube had more than 2.7 billion monthly active users, who collectively watched more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2023, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total.

A soda geyser is a physical reaction between a carbonated beverage, usually Diet Coke, and Mentos mints that causes the beverage to be expelled from its container. The candies catalyze the release of gas from the beverage, which creates an eruption that pushes most of the liquid up and out of the bottle. Lee Marek and "Marek's Kid Scientists" were the first to publicly demonstrate the experiment on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999. Steve Spangler's televised demonstration of the eruption in 2005 became popular on YouTube, launching a chain of several other Diet Coke and Mentos experiment viral videos. Experiments carried out at altitudes ranging from below sea level in Death Valley to the summit of Pikes Peak have demonstrated that the reaction works better at higher elevations.

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EepyBird is an entertainment company best known for creating the viral video "The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments" which won the first ever Webby Award for Viral Video in 2007 and was named "Online Game Changer of the Decade" in December 2009 by the readers of GoViral.com as "the most significant online marketing campaign of the decade."

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References

  1. 1 2 Tim Hyland (April 2012). "Meet the new Mr. Wizard". Speaker Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Excelligence Learning Corporation® - News". www.excelligence.com. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to Be Amazing! Toys". Be Amazing! Toys. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 Clayton Neuman (20 April 2007). "The TIME 100 — Are They Worthy?". TIME. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Steve Spangler". 9 News. 16 August 2011. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  6. 1 2 Susan Wells (18 February 2014). "New Sick Science! Kits Honored with Family Fun Award at New York's Toy Fair". Steve Spangler Science. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "1997 Winners". The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 1997. Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  8. 1 2 "List of Winner and Nominees". The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2010. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Steve Spangler on Science Magic and Why You're losing Booking to Non-Magicians". MUM. September 2006.
  10. 1 2 "Winter Science Workshop". National Hands-on Science Institute. 2003. Archived from the original on October 18, 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  11. 1 2 Al Lewis Mentos-soda mix a mint for scientist Archived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved January 2, 2007.
  12. ↑ Greg Sandoval (13 February 2007). "Toying with the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment". CNET. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  13. 1 2 Ron Davis (23 January 2011). "Science with flair: Q&A with educator Steve Spangler". Scranton Times-Tribune. The Times Tribune. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Videos". Steve Spangler Science. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  15. ↑ "@stevespangler on TikTok". TikTok. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  16. ↑ "Largest physics lesson". Guinness World Records. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame". National Speakers Association. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  18. ↑ YouTube Announces TV Initiative With 100 Niche Channels Archived 2012-05-01 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved November 21, 2012
  19. ↑ Amir Efrati; Lauren A.E. Schuker (29 October 2011). "YouTube Tees Up Big Talent". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "The Spangler Effect to Debut on New YouTube Channel February 1st". 26 January 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  21. ↑ Marc Hustvedt (28 October 2011). "YouTube Reveals Original Channels". TubeFilter. Archived from the original on 19 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "Mentos provide alum an "exploding" hobby" (PDF). The Coloradan. March 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  23. ↑ "The Family Who Eats Fire Together Sticks Together - Growing up in a Family of Magicians". 8 December 2008.
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