When the mixture cools and the pressure is released, the resulting concoction hardens and then shatters into tiny pieces. Those small fragments are filled with tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide.
When the resultant candy is placed in the mouth, the heat and moisture causes the candy to dissolve, leading those tiny gas bubbles to burst and make the distinctive popping noise, while creating a tickling sensation within the mouth. Pop Rocks creator William A. Mitchell is an admitted fan of his candy invention.
One of the most prevalent beliefs associated with Pop Rocks is that the candy is actually dangerous — as in, lethally dangerous. As Snopes recalled, an urban myth took hold as early as the s, declaring that some child somewhere scarfed several bags of Pop Rocks in combination with soda and died after his stomach swelled with gas and then exploded.
That, of course, never happened, yet the unfounded rumor spread far and wide, leading many people to believe that Pop Rocks were downright deadly. Mitchell assured People. The amount of gas in Pop Rocks is less than one-tenth the amount in a can of soda pop. In fact, an episode of Discovery's Mythbusters successfully disproved the claim that Pop Rocks and soda would make one's stomach burst.
After testing it out with an elaborate experiment involving a pig's stomach, hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage ultimately concurred with Mitchell's claim about the burping, but concluded the Pop Rocks-soda combo simply didn't produce enough gas to fatally explode a human stomach.
At some point in the s, the urban legend that drinking soda in combination with Pop Rocks was killing children en masse morphed into a bizarre apocryphal rumor that was spread during recess in schoolyards throughout the country. This rumor claimed that a familiar TV personality met his end by eating Pop Rocks and washing it down with soda. In , Quaker Oats produced a now-iconic commercial for its Life cereal, featuring some dubious kids who thought the cereal looked too healthy to be any good.
They decided to first test it on little Mikey — who "hates everything" — to gauge his reaction. Mikey happily gobbled it up, spawning the catchphrase "Mikey likes it! That was nonsense. The actor who played Mikey, John Gilchrist, did not die. In , he told Newsday that he first heard of the rumor in the late s, when his mother received a tearful call from a friend offering her condolences that her son had been killed by candy.
The urban legend that Pop Rocks were slaughtering America's children spread like a virus, and became so prevalent that General Foods was forced to take some extreme measures. In , notes an FAQ on the Pop Rocks website , the company took out a full-page ad that it ran in 45 major publications throughout the country to let consumers know the rumors were bogus and that Pop Rocks were completely safe.
In addition, the company also delivered around 50, letters to school principals all over the U. Mitchell on a speaking tour to do some damage control by personally explaining the ins and outs of his candy to terrified parents in order to assuage their fears.
Controversy and Pop Rocks, it seems, were never far apart. Even before the rumors of exploding stomachs started circulating, parental concerns over the noisy treat had grown to the point that the FDA set up a hotline to inform parents that the candy popping away like tiny fireworks in their children's mouths was perfectly safe. While Pop Rocks mixed with soda may not be lethal, the combination does indeed produce an excessive amount of gas.
And while the amount of carbon dioxide expelled may not be enough to actually kill someone, it is enough to blow up a balloon. The instructions were as simple as it comes: pour a packet of Pop Rocks into the balloon by using a funnel, fasten the balloon to the top of the soda bottle and then pull the balloon up in order to drop the Pop Rocks into the soda.
At that point, the Pop Rocks become coated in bubbles, with gas escaping from both the soda and the candy. As the gas escapes, it has nowhere to go except up into the balloon, filling it up with gas and causing the balloon to expand. Despite the real controversy generated by fake rumors, Pop Rocks continued to be a hit with kids, who possibly experienced the thrill of cheating death whenever they tossed some into their mouths. That was why, recalled the Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries blog , in the late s General Foods decided to launch a spinoff product.
Dubbed Space Dust , this candy was essentially Pop Rocks that had been crushed into a fine powder. The title turned out to be an unfortunate one. At the time of the new candy's debut, noted the blog, powder-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin were experiencing a surge in poularity. Worse, a mind-altering drug name Phencyclidine , also known as PCP, had been making headlines when those who took it went berserk, hallucinating and often engaging in violent behavior.
However, carbonation doesn't always taste sour to us because CO 2 is detected by multiple somatosensory systems in the body. Some researchers even suggest that the tingling, burning sensations associated with the perception of carbonation can be caused by CO 2 triggering pain receptors [4]. Would this mean our society's desire for carbonated food and drink has strangely evolved against a natural aversion to experiencing pain? Personally, I can't hear over the loud buzzing noises of Pop Rocks in my mouth to find out Note: Modified on September 19, The diagram illustrating taste detection of carbonation has been added in the current post.
References cited. Accessed 23 August Leon K, Mitchell W Gasified confection and method of making the same. US Patent No. US A. Accessed 20 August Science Accessed 25 August University of Southern California.
Accessed 26 August Accessed 16 September She attributes her love of food science to an obsession with watching bread rise in the oven. The answer lies in carbon dioxide. In the late s, Mitchell wondered if it was possible to create an instant soda tablet by baking CO 2 into candy. Like other hard candies, Pop Rocks are made by mixing sugar, lactose, corn syrup, and flavorings. Once those ingredients are melted together and boiled, highly-pressurized CO 2 is added. When the candy mixture hardens, it traps bubbles of gas exerting pressure at pounds per square inch psi.
For reference, the pressure inside a champagne bottle measures in at 90 psi.
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