Screaming Gummy Bear Science Practical

Reaction Starts at 00:40 Reaction of a Gummy Bear into a test tube with molten Potassium Chloride. Explanation: As the Gummy Bear is dropped into the molten potassium chloride, a rapid oxidation reaction takes place. This reaction was, plainly put, placing a gummy bear into about 10-20g of molten potassium chlorate. If you are unfamiliar with molten potassium chlorate, it is a strong oxidizing agent that reacts violently with sugar, and gummy bears, those delicious goodies, have lots of sugar in them. So, in all, we have two reaction taking place here; the decomposition of the metal chlorates into a metal chloride and oxygen gas 2KClO3(S) → KCl (s) + 3O2(g) when heated, and the sugar (gummy bear) reacting with the oxygen gas to produce carbon dioxide and water C12H22O11(s) + 12 O2(g) →12 CO2(g) + 11 H2O (g) In the second reaction we have a release of energy in the form of heat and bright light, thus quite a nice exothermic reaction.