Candy-Flavored Science

As you can tell by my numerous recent blog posts, we managed to keep fairly busy this summer. But we still had many "in-between" days, where we often didn't have anything planned, and we needed things to do. On days like that I'd normally love to hide in my room and read all day...but alas, I have three young kids, and they can't entertain themselves, so we had to get creative at times.

Last summer some friends and I organized a "science day" kid swap; once a week, one of us moms would welcome several kids into our home and spend a couple of hours doing homemade science projects/crafts/etc. It was a great idea, but it was also a lot of work, and it was difficult to coordinate everybody's schedule. No such opportunity materialized for our family this year, so it was up to me to find activities for the kids. And while I enjoy science, I wasn't confident in my abilities to organize a bunch of experiments on my own.

Until we found this beauty of a book at our local library:

Candy Experiments, by Loralee Leavitt.

Huzzah! It contained many easy science experiments, and it required us to buy candy...lots and lots of candy. It was a perfect fit for us! We took a trip to the local dollar store and loaded up the cart with lots of the candies listed in the book. We didn't manage to do all the experiments listed in the book, but they got us through several slow afternoons.

So here I am, contributing to "science" by publishing the experiments we performed, their results, and what we learned.

Experiment #1: Making "Rock Candy"

Our first try didn't involve any store-bought candy at all: we filled a bowl partway with water, added some sugar, then brought the water to a high boil. After shutting off the heat, we tied these pieces of string to a pencil and let them dangle in the water/sugar mix. Then we let it sit for several days.

As the water evaporated, the sugar crystals (which had been separated in the boiling water) started to clumsily re-form and cling to each other...and to the string hanging in the bowl.

We didn't get quite as much "rock candy" on the string as we'd hoped...probably because our bowl was too big and thus the sugar drifted further through the available space. But it was enough for the kids to see and understand the principle at work.

Experiment #2: Diet Coke Go Boom

This particular experiment was in our Candy Experiments book; however, we'd originally gotten the idea for this from the movie Wreck-It Ralph. In the movie, there was a giant "volcano" filled with Diet Coke, covered by a "crust" of Mentos candy. Whenever the crust was disturbed and a Mentos fell into the Diet Coke, an explosion occurred. This is because Mentos candy has a particularly rough surface and contains gum arabic (a surfactant), which means that many carbon dioxide bubbles (and large carbon dioxide bubbles) can form on the surface of the candy very rapidly. Put enough candy in the Coke, and the carbon-dioxide gas released can be very rapid and dramatic...explosive, you might say.

But enough technobabble! Here's what it looks like when you slip a whole roll of Mentos into a liter of Diet Coke:

This was such fun to do, we actually performed it twice!! (Yes, this included two different trips to the store to buy another two-liter of Diet Coke)

Experiment #3: Incredible Dissolving Cotton Candy

The mechanics of this experiment were simple enough. We bought a bag of cotton candy...

...took out a chunk of the candy, then dipped it into a bowl of water.

Instead of the whole thing "loosening up" and falling apart, the water actually appears to "climb up" the cotton candy until it reached our hands.

The "melted" cotton candy turned the water pretty colors, too.

Since water is attracted to fibers, and that attraction can be stronger than gravity (depending on the density of the fibers), the water will "climb up" the fibers of the spun sugar in the cotton candy. Weird...and kind of messy. The girls had fun eating the leftover cotton candy, though.

Experiment #4: Exploding Skittles

Time to put some Skittles in the microwave, kids!

"Before" on the left..."After" on the right

When the damage was done, the empty Skittles had a clamshell appearance. This was an experiment demonstrating that the soft, more "watery" insides of the Skittles would dissolve faster when heated and spill out the sides of the candy.

Experiments #5 and #6: More Fun Exploding Things in the Microwave

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a large number of the experiments in this book revolved around putting candy in the microwave. Simple and dramatic, thus perfect for kids. We first tried a small chocolate-covered marshmallow candy:

Since marshmallows have lots of tiny air pockets inside them, heating the marshmallow causes it to "puff up" and expand (see: any s'more ever made). In the case of the candy-coated marshmallow, though, the expanding marshmallow pushes against (and sometimes breaks) the melting chocolate coating.

The same principle applies to this innocent-looking Three Musketeers bar:

Experiment #7: The Skittles Lose Their "S"s

This was a very easy experiment, and kind of a neat one, too. All we had to do was drop several Skittles into a bowl of warm water, "S"-side up.

After a few minutes, a few things started to happen. First, all the color started bleeding off the Skittles, making a pretty rainbow pattern in the bottom of the bowl:

More interestingly, though, the little letter "S" on each Skittle actually detached itself, and floated up to the water's surface intact!

Can you see it? (near the top of the bowl)

The letters on Skittles, M&Ms, and Jelly Bellies are printed with an edible ink that doesn't dissolve in water. Pretty neat!

Experiment #8: Our "Floating" Laffy Taffy That Didn't

As a scientist, it is my duty to report our failures as well as our successes. This is the one experiment we tried that just didn't work at all.

We were supposed to take some Laffy Taffy, cut off a small chunk, then stretch that little chunk into a curved boat-shape. Then we were supposed to set it gently in a bowl of water, and watch the candy push aside more water than it weighs and float.

Well, we bought the candy, cut off a small chunk, and tried to shape it into a boat shape. But when we tried to put it into the water...

...it sunk like a stone, never to rise to the surface again. Perhaps we chose the wrong kind of Laffy Taffy? Perhaps our boat-making skills were pathetic? We may never know (because we ate the rest of Laffy Taffy to curb our depression at this scientific failure). Hopefully some other scientists can replicate this experiment, with more favorable results.

Experiment #9: The Incredible Growing (And Disintegrating) Gummi Fish

This experiment should have worked great. Instead, it only worked kind-of well. We took three gummi fish, one for each girl (the experiment called for gummi worms, but we figured the basic ingredients were the same), and we put them into some water.

Then we let them sit in the water for a few days. The gelatin in gummy candy is made up of a long, absorbent tangle of protein molecules. When immersed, the protein pulls the water into that tangle and stretches out further, causing all the candy to expand.

However, I think we left the gelatin a little too much time to expand; by the time we tried to extract the gummi fish from the water, they were so stretched out that they fell apart! However, by our (less than expert) estimate, we decided the "watered-down" gummi fish had definitely gotten longer and fatter than their "dry" compatriots.

Experiment #10: The "Race" Of the Melting Starbursts

More fun with candy and the microwave! This time, we put three ordinary Starbust candies on a tilted plate in the microwave...

...then we let 'er rip! The girls had each selected one candy to "cheer" for. I think Celeste's candy won the "melting race" down the plate, but who's counting?

Again, the softness of the Starburst candies make them easy to melt, since they quickly revert into their basic watery components.

Experiment #11: The Disappearing Junior Mint Centers

I love Junior Mints, so I felt some remorse about donating their yummy little bodies to science. But nevertheless, questions needed answering, and the girls required this sacrifice of me. So, I gently sliced several Junior Mints in half...

...then gently set them in a bowl of water. After a pretty short time (maybe an hour or so), we noticed that the creamy centers of the Junior Mints had "vanished" into the water, leaving the empty chocolate shells behind.

The principle at work here was pretty simple: chocolate doesn't dissolve in water, but sugar does. So, the (very) sugary centers of the Junior Mints dissolved into the water quickly, since there was nothing holding them back from doing so.

Experiment #12: Our Big Finish...We Make The Mint Life Saver Float!

In an experiment which feels like it belongs on the David Letterman Show, we decided to play a mini-version of Dave's game, "Will It Float?" The object in question was a wintergreen Life Saver, probably the most "dense" candy we had purchased. First, we tried putting it in a bowl of water, like we had so many other candies...

...no luck! The Life Saver sunk like a stone. It was time to find a denser liquid...

...like molasses! The molasses was denser than the candy, so the Life Saver sat comfortably atop the liquid, and never sank. We even left it sitting for a few days, and nothing ever changed!

These were just a few of the experiments found in our wonderful library book. Now that the school year has begun (and now that we're almost out of candy), we'll have to reluctantly return the book to the library, so some other lucky family can have as much fun experimenting as we have had. Hopefully this book will be available next summer, so we can experience some more sweet, sweet science together.