4 Activity: Pop Rocks!

Supplies per student pair:

2  lear cups

Pop-Rocks or other fizzy candy

Ice water in a portable thermos

Very hot water in a portable thermos

Question: What do you think will happen when we add Pop Rocks to cold water? (After) What do you think will happen when we add Pop Rocks to very hot water?

Directions: Per pair of students, distribute a cup of the cold water. Add a pinch of Pop Rocks and let them observe the reaction. Ask what they observed. Distribute a cup of hot water and add a pinch of Pop Rocks and ask them if they observed anything different? The Pop Rocks should be noisier in hot water than in cold water.

Theory: Pop Rocks has time amount of carbon dioxide trapped by sugar under pressure. When the water dissolves the sugar, the gas is released. Because hot water has more energy than cold water, this will happen faster,

Grades: 1st – 4th grades.

Time: 10 minutes

Clean-Up: All liquids can go down drain or in dump bucket on the table. Cups can be washed and reused.

Notes and Hints: Advise then to keep their fingers out of the water and use their ears only for observations. After (if appropriate) I give them a pinch of Pop Rocks to eat.

Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lC6oanUQFI