Step-by-step tutorial
Step 1
Use your funnel (or make one out of rolled paper and tape) to pour the fizzy candy into a balloon. We used Pop Rocks for our candy.
Step 2
Open the soda bottle and quickly place the balloon over the bottle opening. Make sure the candy does not go into the soda yet! The balloon may inflate a little because of the escaping gases.
Step 3
When you are ready to inflate the balloon, hold onto the balloon at the neck, empty the candy into the carbonated beverage, and watch as it begins to inflate. You should see the soda bubble as the candy reacts inside. If you listen carefully, you may hear small popping sounds! This is the sound of tiny bubbles popping and releasing carbon dioxide. Watch as your balloon starts to grow and expand!
Learn more
What is going on?
The fizzy candy that we used was made by mixing up warm, sugary syrup with carbon dioxide gas. As the syrup cooled and hardened into small balls of candy, it trapped little bubbles of carbon dioxide inside. Now, when the candy comes in contact with liquid (in this case the soda), the sugar in the candy dissolves away, and the bubbles of carbon dioxide gas escape and fill up the balloon.
The soda also contains little bubbles of carbon dioxide gas, which are trapped inside the soda as long as the soda bottle cap is kept on. When you open up the soda bottle, some of the pressure inside the bottle is relieved, and the bubbles in the soda can now escape to the surface. Combining the gas from the fizzy candy and the gas from the opened soda bottle creates quite a lot of freed carbon dioxide, and that’s why the balloon inflates so quickly.