Chemical Erosion: It Melts In Your Mouth
Lesson Adapted from: http://geography.cst.cmich.edu/Franc1M/Demonstrations/Baby%20Ruth.doc
Materials: a Baby Ruth candy bar, plastic knife, granite specimens, and hand lanses.
Procedure:
1. Cut your candy bar into equal pieces for your group.
2. Place a piece of the candy bar in your mouth, but DO NOT CHEW.
3. Suck on the candy for several minutes.
4. As you are waiting observe the granite. Make observations on a white board (color, material, luster, etc.)
5. Once the candy is completely melted think about the following questions. What part of the candy bar
melted first? Second? What are you left with in your mouth? Why did this happen in the order it occurred?
6. Chew the peanuts. Is this process different from the melting of the other two ingredients?
7. Think about the parts of granite: feldspar, hornblende, and quartz. Place them in order of increasing
resistance to weathering? Which material in the candy bar would correspond with each material in granite?
Record your thoughts.
NOTE: If you wish to make more constant rates of temperature try this experiment. Place a small piece of Baby
Ruth in a clear container filled with 100 mL of water at 20 C; place another piece in a container with 100 mL of
water warmed to 60C water. Time each container to see which one melts more quickly.
Chemical Erosion: It Melts In Your Mouth
Lesson Adapted from: http://geography.cst.cmich.edu/Franc1M/Demonstrations/Baby%20Ruth.doc
Materials: a Baby Ruth candy bar, plastic knife, granite specimens, and hand lanses.
Procedure:
8. Cut your candy bar into equal pieces for your group.
9. Place a piece of the candy bar in your mouth, but DO NOT CHEW.
10. Suck on the candy for several minutes.
11. As you are waiting observe the granite. Make observations on a white board (color, material, luster, etc.)
12. Once the candy is completely melted think about the following questions. What part of the candy bar
melted first? Second? What are you left with in your mouth? Why did this happen in the order it occurred?
13. Chew the peanuts. Is this process different from the melting of the other two ingredients?
14. Think about the parts of granite: feldspar, hornblende, and quartz. Place them in order of increasing
resistance to weathering? Which material in the candy bar would correspond with each material in granite?
Record your thoughts.
NOTE: If you wish to make more constant rates of temperature try this experiment. Place a small piece of Baby
Ruth in a clear container filled with 100 mL of water at 20 C; place another piece in a container with 100 mL of
water warmed to 60C water. Time each container to see which one melts more quickly.