🧪 Science with Sarah: Carbon Sugar Snakes 🔥🐍

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Watch the video of Sarah’s school science experiment at STEM Academy NEISD in the video player above.

Are you looking for something fun to do at home that has a little bit of science behind it? This carbon sugar snake is a great way to show chemical reactions.

Be sure to check out GMSA@9 on Wednesdays when KSAT Meteorologist Sarah Spivey does the demonstrations and explains the science behind it. To view, click on the video player above. Check out our Science with Sarah webpage for more fun science experiments!

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED

FOR THE SUGAR SNAKE

  • Baking soda (1 tsp)
  • Powdered sugar (4 tsp)
  • Mixing bowl – small
  • Lighter fluid – or ethanol

FOR SAFETY

  • A hair tie (if you have long hair)
  • A fire extinguisher nearby
  • Adult supervision

DO THE EXPERIMENT

A black carbon sugar ‘snake’ (Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.)
  • STEP 1: Pour the sand in a mound into the pie tin
  • STEP 2: Make a divot in the top of the mound
  • STEP 3: In a mixing bowl, mix 4 tsp of powdered sugar with 1 tsp of baking soda
  • STEP 4: Soak the divot of the sand mound in lighter fluid
  • STEP 5: Pour the baking soda/sugar mixture into the divot
  • STEP 6: Step back and light the lighter fluid with the lighter
  • STEP 7: Watch as black bubbles form. Wait 5-7 minutes, and a longer, black carbon ‘snake’ should form

TO EXTINGUISH: Cover the fire with another pie tin or douse with water. Make sure the fire is completely extinguished before throwing everything away

WHY IT WORKS

Sugar is made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. When it is burned, it produces carbon dioxide gas and water vapor. These gasses cause the snake to rise. When we add baking soda, more gasses are created. The baking soda also prevents the sugar from burning completely, creating black carbon — or charcoal. That’s why the snake is black.

SCIENCE WITH SARAH

If you’d like Sarah to come to your school and conduct a science experiment live on KSAT, fill out this form. “Winners” are selected at random.