Carbon Sugar Snake

Equipment:

• Powdered sugar

• Sand/dirt - sand is preffered

• Baking soda/sodium bicarbonate

• Lighter fluid/alchohol - we swapped to ethanol for the best resusults

• Matches

• Fume box

• Small ceramic plate/bowl

• Water for putting out.

1. Combine 4 tsp powdered sugar with 1 tsp of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

2. Cover the base of a plate/bowl with sand and create a small mound in the middle. Use your knuckle to make an indent in the mound.

3. Pour lighter fluid on the mound and in the indentation. Make sure that the sand is well soaked.

4. Spoon your sugar and baking soda mix into the center of the mound.

5. Carefully light the sand near the sugar mixture and watch a black snake emerge!

19/3/2025

26/3/2025

• We changed the ethanol to methylated spirits which made the flame burn for longer 

  • We then soaked a cotton ball in methylated spirits instead of the sand and added a string like a fuse and set it alight

    • The flames were going from the outside in instead of from the centre. We used the ball which made it so the heat would be concentrated and the snake would be straight from one place, instead of all around.

    • The sugar mixture covered the ball too much so the fuse couldn’t reach the ball, so we had to brush aside some

• We changed the ratio from 4:1 to 2:1 for sugar:sodium bicarbonate

  • We want to have a smaller mixture so the heat can be concentrated on one area

  • The ratio changed to try and speed up the reaction by increasing the sodium bicarbonate