Carbon snake
Carbon snake is a demonstration of the dehydration reaction of sugar by concentrated sulfuric acid. With concentrated sulfuric acid, granulated table sugar (sucrose) performs a degradation reaction which changes its form to a black solid-liquid mixture.[1] The carbon snake experiment can sometimes be misidentified as the black snake, "sugar snake", or "burning sugar" reaction, all of which involve baking soda rather than sulfuric acid.
Explanation
Concentrated sulfuric acid can perform a dehydration reaction with
When sucrose is dehydrated, heat is given out to the surroundings in an exothermic reaction, while graphite and liquid water are produced by the decomposition of the sugar:[3]
- C12H22O11 (s) + H2SO4 (aq) + 1/2 O2 (g) → 11 C (s) + CO2 (g) + 12 H2O (g) + SO2 (g)
As the acid dehydrates the sucrose, the water produced will dilute the sulfuric acid, giving out energy in the form of heat.
- C12H22O11 (s) → 12 C (s) + 11 H2O (l)
Alternative experiment
See also
- Elephant's toothpaste
- Black snake (firework)
- Chemical volcano
- Diet Coke and Mentos eruption
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-299-08890-3.
- ^ Don't Try This at Home - 3 - Sulfuric Acid and Sugar, retrieved 2022-01-31
- ISBN 978-3-527-31865-0.
- ISBN 978-0-841-21481-1.
- ^ "Carbon Snake: demonstrating the dehydration power of concentrated sulfuric acid". communities.acs.org. 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ Making a carbon snake with P-Nitroaniline, retrieved 2022-01-31
External links
- Dehydration of sucrose with sulfuric acid ChemEd X
- Sugar snake (Sugar and Baking soda) MEL science
- Sugar Snake: Sulfuric Acid and Sugar youtube.com