Homemade Fireworks!: Gummi Bear + KClO3

This is an old-ass video of the magic that happens when you drop a gummi bear into potassium chlorate. Now we could talk about the science behind the magic but then it would become all science-y and less magical and I prefer magic (although I have played Yu-Gi-Oh). Also, I'm sure you've already seen the video because it's so old but I hadn't so there's really no one to blame but yourself because I was writing Geekologie back in September of '07 when it came out so there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't have sent me the tip except you're a jerk and you like to be withholding. And that is exactly why you and I will never work. Well, that and the whole face situation (I hate yours).
Hit the jump for the most magical experiment ever.
Youtube
via
Dangers of Red Gummy Bears and Potassium Chlorate [buzzfeed]
Thanks to Amanda, who knows molten potassium chlorate is a strong oxidizing agent that reacts violently with sugar. Well damn, Ms. Scientist!
-
This is a battle between a sulfuric-acid based drain cleanser and a wet sponge. SPOILER: The sponge loses (although technically the acid is actually reacting with the water). I know you might be a fan of rooting for the underdog, but in this case the underdog gets its ass bur... / Continue →
-
Mercury Thiocyanate used to be made into "Pharoah's Serpent" fireworks similar to the "black snake" tablets you light and watch grow into a crusty snake. Unfortunately, it produces mercury vapors during the process so now the tablets are made out of a much safer sodium bicarbo... / Continue →
-
CLASSIC: The Old 'Sealed Bottle Of Liquid Nitrogen In A Trashcan Full Of Ping Pong Balls' ExperimentThis is a video of Plymouth University professor Roy Lowry placing a bottle of sealed liquid nitrogen in a trashcan, then covering the bottle with 1,500 ping-pong balls. What happens next? Nothing I ever got to witness in any of my lame-ass science classes, I can tell you tha... / Continue →

