“Sugar snake” experiment

How to make a snake from sugar and soda

In the ther­mal break­down of a mix­ture of sug­ar and soda, a spec­tac­u­lar “snake” is born.

Reagents and equip­ment:

  • sug­ar;
  • soda;
  • urotropine;
  • fire­proof sur­face;
  • lighter.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Mix sug­ar and soda in a ra­tio of 4:1 by mass. Make a heap of urotropin with a hol­low in the cen­ter. Pour the mix­ture of sug­ar and soda into the hol­low. Set fire to the urotropin.

Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion

The sug­ar starts to burn, the soda breaks down on heat­ing, and these pro­cess­es cause the burnt sug­ar to foam, and the vo­lu­mi­nous prod­ucts of its com­bus­tion (in­clud­ing car­bon) to form a snake.

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Avoid burns! Wear pro­tec­tive glass­es and gloves. Don’t con­duct the ex­per­i­ment near flammable sub­stances and ob­jects. Fire-ex­tin­guish­ing equip­ment should be at the ready. The ex­per­i­ment should be car­ried out in a fume hood or well-ven­ti­lat­ed room. Fol­low gen­er­al safe­ty rec­om­men­da­tions. Chem­i­cal ex­per­i­ments must be car­ried out in full com­pli­ance with the leg­is­la­tion of your coun­try.

Warn­ing! Sub­stances of this ex­per­i­ment are tox­ic and high­ly dan­ger­ous for your health. Do not try this at home. Only un­der pro­fes­sion­al su­per­vi­sion.

Try it