Fun Chemistry Projects Using Sugar or Sucrose

One tasty way to learn about the properties of sugar is to crystallize it. Colored and flavored sugar crystals are called rock candy. Consider how the covalent bonds in sucrose affect the way it dissolves in water to make the crystal solution. How does the crystal form of rock candy differ from how sugar crystals look under a magnifying glass?

Fans of the tv show Breaking Bad can adapt the regular sugar crystal recipe to make chemist Walter White's classic blue crystal product. While you're working on the project you can consider the real chemistry covered in the TV series.

One way to layer liquids is to pour a light liquid over one that is denser. For example, you can simply demonstrate oil is lighter than water this way (and also that oil and water are immiscible). But, you don't have to use different chemicals to layer them. You can simply make the bottom layers more concentrated than the top ones. Try it yourself using colored sugar solutions.

Sugar is a carbohydrate, which means it's a form of fuel in your body. It's also a fuel in chemical reactions. For example, you can use sugar to make homemade black snack fireworks. These fireworks don't explode—they puff out columns of black ash.

Chemistry is at the heart of any form of pyrotechnic. If the black snakes whetted your appetite for more fire fun, try making homemade smoke bombs. You only need two ingredients to experiment with these: sugar and potassium nitrate.

Combustion is a chemical reaction. While it's usually initiated by applying a heat source, such as a match, it's possible to start a fire without adding thermal energy. For example, mix sugar with potassium chlorate and see what happens if a drop of sulfuric acid is added!