Candy Experiments: Turn your Halloween candy into science!

Halloween candy is great!  And you can do so much with it!  Check out these ideas for how to use your candy.

Is your candy acidic? Candy pH Test
What you'll need:
Sour candy (like lemonheads, nerds, or sour gummy worms)
Skittles
M&Ms
Candy Corn
8 plastic cups
Distilled water
Measuring cup
Baking soda

How it works:
1. Taste one of each of your candies.  Order your candy by how sour it is and write down your observations.
2. Put 1/4 cup of water in four of the cups.  Place one piece of each candy in the cups (one kind of candy per cup).  These are your controls, which means you won't do anything else with them other than observe what the water does to the candies.
3. Write the letter C on each of these cups and set them aside until the end of the experiment.
4. Put 1/4 cup of water in four new cups.  Place one piece of each candy in the cups and let the candy dissolve completely.  You can crush candies that are taking too long to dissolve.  These are your variable cups, the ones you'll be working with.
5. After the candy has dissolved completely, sprinkle one tablespoon of baking soda into each of the variable cups.  The baking soda is your independent variable, the only thing that changes in the experiment.  Watch for bubbles.
6. The bubbles are your dependent variable, which is the thing that happens after you add the independent variable.  Record your observations about the bubbles.  The greater the amount of bubbles, the greater the acidity of the candy!


Dancing Frankenworms
What you'll need:
Gummy worms
Baking soda
Vinegar
Cutting board
Sharp knife
2 clear cups

How it works:
1. Cut 3 gummy worms into quarters the long way.  It may help to make your knife wet or dust it in baking soda to prevent the candy from sticking to it.
2. Stir 3 tablespoons of baking soda into a glass filled with 1 cup of warm water.  Mix your cut worms into the baking soda solution.
3. Let the worms soak for 15 minutes.
4. Fill the second clear glass with vinegar.
5. Fish your worms out of the baking soda solution with a fork.  Add a few to the vinegar.
6. The baking soda in the gummy worms will react with the vinegar by producing carbon dioxide bubbles.  The bubbles form on the outside of the gummy worms, causing the worms to rise and "dance" their way to the top of the glass.


Growing Gummy Bears
What you'll need:
2 small bowls
Water
Salt
Gummy bears

How it works:
1. Make about a cup of supersaturated salt water solution.  To do this, add salt a little bit at a time to a cup of boiling water until no more salt dissolves.
2. Allow your salt water to cool in the fridge.
3. When the water is cool, fill your bowls.  Put salt water in one and plain tap water in the other.
4. Gather your gummy bears and pick some that are similar in size.  Put a couple in the salt water and a couple in the plain water.
5. Allow the gummy bears to soak for several hours.  (Don't soak longer than overnight or the gummy bears may fall apart.)
6. Observe the changes in size of your gummy bears.