"Screaming jelly babies" is a chemistry demonstration which is practised in schools in the United Kingdom and Australia, and other countries where the sweets are commonly available. It is often used at open evenings to demonstrate the more light-hearted side of secondary school science. The experiment shows the amount of energy there is in a "jelly baby". Potassium chlorate is a very strong oxidizing agent that oxidizes the sugar in the jelly baby almost instantaneously.
When the experiment is performed, the jelly baby bursts into flames and a screaming sound can be heard as rapidly expanding gases are emitted from the test tube in which the experiment is performed. The smell of candy floss is also given off.
Famous quotes containing the words screaming, jelly and/or babies:
“My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that’s basically a conservative view of life.”
—Jane Smiley (b. 1949)
“It is always allowable to ask for artichoke jelly with your boiled venison; however there are houses where this is not supplied.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The truth is, no matter how trying they become, babies two and under don’t have the ability to make moral choices, so they can’t be “bad.” That category only exists in the adult mind.”
—Anne Cassidy (20th century)