video thumbnail 3:05
Corn Flour Fireball

2012-11-18

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channel thumbVeritasium

Corn flour blown through a funnel produces an excellent fireball. This both looks cool and demonstrates some interesting science. In any chemical reaction, the reactants must mix with each other significantly in order to increase the rate of reaction. Here we demonstrate that corn flour on a spoon burns slowly, but blown from a funnel, the reaction is dramatic and violent. This is because the surface area where the reaction can occur is greatly increased.

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As always, if you are planning to recreate this experiment, make sure you have appropriate supervision and take necessary precautions.