STEAM Kitchen Science-Candy Science

STEAM /October (10/30)

Kitchen Science - Candy Science

 Read:  Sweet! The Delicious Story of Candy 
by Ann Love and Jane Drake  check it out!

Experiment 1 – Floating Letters Try this at home! 
Skittles or M&M’s.  Place some Skittles or M&Ms in the bottom of a cup, with the “M” or “S” facing up.

Now carefully pour in about 4cm of water, try not to disturb the candy too much as you do this.
    

Watch what happens.  It should take about five to 10 minutes.  Eventually the “M” or “S” on each candy will peel off and float to the surface, but the candy stays intact.

  

Experiment 2 – Dancing Discs Get them at the Dollar Tree

Candy hearts or Necco discs

Cups for 7up or Sprite

1-2 Necco disc candies 

Tall clear glass

Fill the glass nearly to the top with pop.  Take the candy and one at a time drop them in.  After 2 minutes, what happens to the candy and what happens to the pop?

Experiment 3 – Floating / Sinking Candy Bars  

Mini chocolate bars:  Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, and Kit Kat

Some things sink and some things float.  This all has to do with upthrust-the force that pushes up on things in a liquid.  The size of upthrust is the same as the weight of water an object pushes out of the way.  If the upthrust is greater than the weight of the object, the object floats.  Otherwise, it sinks.  

Start by talking about a HYPOTHESIS sheet.  Predict and record whether the candy will SINK OR FLOAT.  Now test your guesses.  Talk about the ingredients and how the Twix, Milky Way, and Snickers all had ingredients that were heavier than water (nuts, caramel, etc.)  The middle of the 3 Musketeers has a lot of air, which makes it lighter than water and will float.  What other foods may float? (marshmallows…)

Experiment 4 – Pop Rocks Expander Try this fun one

Pop rocks candy

Small individual bottles of 7up or sprite

Balloons

               
Add Pop Rocks into the balloon.  Now take the cover off the bottle of pop and pull the balloon over the pop opening.  Tip the Pop Rocks into the pop.  As the balloon expands, talk about how both Pop Rocks and Pop have Carbon Dioxide in them.  In fact, Pop Rocks even lists carbon dioxide as an ingredient. The carbon dioxide from both ingredients makes the balloon inflate.