The Black Fire Snake Experiment!

Photo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hibxz9_ZW18

By: Aisha Telhan, Journalist

How can you create the amazing Black Fire Snake? With just very few ingredients, you can create the Black Fire Snake that looks like it appears out of thin air! The Black Fire Snake experiment can be conducted anywhere including at home. The engineer process involved is explained in the following video:

Some scientist-engineers discovered that when you set the lighter fluid on fire, the mixture of the sugar and baking soda also start to burn. As it burns, it creates gas bubbles that gets trapped, resulting in the “Black Fire Snake” structure that rises out of flames. The snake can start to grow slowly at first, and may take 10–20 minutes to reach it’s full size. But soon, you will see the “Black Fire Snake” start to emerge.

This sounds like a science experiment right? So how is Engineering related to science? Engineers and scientist can work together to create experiments like the Black Fire Snake experiment. Engineering is the applied science of acquiring and applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construct experiments. Engineers can borrow physics and mathematics to find suitable solutions to a scientific problem/experiment.

These are some links/ stories related to the Black Fire Snake Experiment:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/stem-activities/make-a-fire-snake#instructions

-Look at instructions link video

https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-fire-snake-from-sugar-baking-soda-0164401/

https://www.ronyestech.com/experiment/black-fire-snake-experiment-grow-a-scientific-snake