Potassium Chlorate and A Red Gummy Bear

St. Albans Science Dept shows what happens when a gummy bear is dropped in a test tube of potassium chlorate.

Molten potassium chlorate is a strong oxidizing agent that reacts violently with sugar. Gummy bears have lots of sugar in them.

Scott Beale
Scott Beale

Scott Beale founded Laughing Squid in 1995 in San Francisco and is currently based in New York City. When not running the blog, Scott can be found posting on Bluesky and sharing photos on Instagram.