Food

Easter is Here, So Let’s Watch Some Exploding Marshmallow Peeps

by Derrick Rossignol
Apr 15 2017 • 5:00 AM

You probably have some potassium chlorate in your home right now. It’s a white powder that’s a big part of what makes pyrotechnics go boom, but it’s also the main component in matches. You can imagine what would happen if you get a lot of it in one spot, get it really hot, and put stuff in it. YouTuber Grant Thompson didn’t settle for just imagining this, though. Since it’s the weekend of Easter, he decided to put some marshmallow Peeps in some molten potassium chlorate and see what happens ( via LaughingSquid).

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The first step was melting the powder down, which actually seemed pretty easy. Thompson heated it to around 700 degrees in a pan with a blowtorch; getting the powder into a syrupy state didn’t seem to take that long. After transferring the liquid potassium chlorate into a wine glass, he dropped in a peep, and of course it burned, but the reaction began a lot quicker than you might expect. It ignited in red flame and plumes of gray smoke pretty instantly. Once the reaction got hot enough, the wine glass shattered. The process left virtually no part of the Peep in tact, save for a tiny bit of black ash.

Thompson tries a few other variations of this experiment in the video above, so check that out and let us know what you think in the comments. What else would you like to see submerged in molten potassium chlorate?

Featured image: Grant Thompson – “The King of Random”/YouTube

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