Fire Snake!

The boys LOVE science, so we're always attempting random experiments in the kitchen. This particular experiment, however, really should've been performed OUTSIDE (but it was FREEZING, y'all, and SNOWING). Thankfully, we didn't burn down the house! ;-)

If you have some sand, powdered sugar, baking soda, lighter fluid, and a match (eek!) on hand, then you can make THIS happen:

The snake "grew" to its full size within about 10-15 minutes. Way cool!

Also, you'll notice in the photo below that we DID have a fire extinguisher nearby. (Why do so many of our experiments involve fire?!? Um, because we have BOYS in the house. Ha!) Just FYI - this is the only time I've ever grabbed the extinguisher and pulled the pin, fully intending to extinguish the flames that were licking our kitchen chandelier (yep, I had no idea the flames would be 3 feet high! yikes!). Thankfully, though, the blaze quickly settled into a smolder, so I didn't have to summon my inner firefighter (big YAY!).

Here's a video of "the lighting of the fire." The camera work is wonky because, well, I was the one filming. (Sorry, guys!) Also, this clip ends abruptly because I had to quickly drop the phone in order to pull the chandelier out of the flames (oops!):

Gotta love our homeschool adventures!!! :-)

If you'd like to try this experiment with your kiddos, then check out this instructional video on YouTube. Also, if you're a member of Kiwi Crate, you can download some handy instructions from their site as well.

So what's going on here? Wanna understand the science behind the "snake?" Well, here's a brief explanation (courtesy of the kid-friendly scientists at Kiwi Crate):

"Your carbon sugar snake is the product of three chemical reactions that are all dependent on heat.

The first of these reactions occurs when sugar combusts (burns) in the presence of oxygen. This produces carbon dioxide gas and water vapor (also a gas), which pushes more of the sugar/baking soda mixture upwards. Some of this additional sugar heats up but doesn’t have access to any oxygen, so instead of burning, it undergoes thermal decomposition, producing solid carbon and more water vapor. This solid carbon now gives the snake some shape, and also gives the snake its black color. Lastly, the baking soda also decomposes in the heat, producing solid sodium carbonate, and carbon dioxide gas and water vapor. Altogether, these three reactions produce both the solid components of the snake (carbon and sodium carbonate) and hot gases (CO2 and water vapor) that expand and inflate the snake up and out of the sand bowl.

The sand in this experiment doesn’t chemically react with anything in the growing snake. Instead, it evenly distributes the heat from the burning lighter fluid to the sugar and the baking soda, ensuring a slow, steady burn and the growth of a long carbon sugar snake."

Interesting, right?! My boys loved this experiment, but J-Man thought it was "a little smelly" (another great reason to keep the smoke OUTSIDE):

Oh, and right in the middle of this experiment, Bear Man lost another tooth! Can you see him holding the tissue in the background below? (That's homeschool life, friends! A little learning and a little life. And, of course, TONS of fun!)