Unit 5.

Reaction Rates
Syllabus Ref. 7.2

The cornflour bomb

Demonstration
Cornflour is sprayed into the flame of a candle burning inside a large tin can with the lid on. The resulting small explosion caused
by rapid combustion of the cornflour blows the lid off the tin. The reaction dramatically illustrates the conversion of the chemical
energy stored in foodstuffs into heat and other forms of energy. It can also be used to show the effect of surface area on the rate
of chemical reaction.

Lesson organisation
This is a brief demonstration, taking about 5 minutes but of course may have to be repeated on demand.

Apparatus

Chemicals

Safety screen
Eye protection for teacher
Large coffee tin (500 g
catering size) with metal lid
(Notes 1 and 2)
Glass funnel, small (2 3
cm diameter)
Rubber bung (13 mm), one
hole
Candle, short piece, or
nightlight
Pipette filler, rubber bulb
(about 50 100 cm3) type
Rubber tubing, short
lengths, to join pipette filler
to funnel stem
Wooden splint and
matches to light candle

Cornflour, dry, a few grams required

for each demonstration
Refer to Health & Safety and
Technical notes section below for
additional information.

Health & Safety and Technical notes

Read our standard health & safety guidance
The experiment must be conducted behind firmly fixed safety screens close to the can, which protect both class and teacher.
The class should be seated sufficiently far back from the demonstration to avoid any risk of being hit by the flying tin lid.
Cornflour - As an alternative to cornflour, other similar, oxidisable, fine powders can be used, eg custard powder, icing sugar or
lycopodium powder (Note: lycopodium powder is a form of pollen, which may cause sensitisation or hay fever-like symptoms in
susceptible individuals. If the demonstration works well, very little lycopdium powder should enter the air in the room). The
powder usually needs to be dried in an oven at about 80oC.
1 The apparatus needs to be assembled as shown in the diagram below before the lesson. Make a neat hole in the side of the
coffee tin, near the base, of suitable size to take the one-holed rubber bung. Insert the funnel into the hole in the bung so that the
stem protrudes outwards from the narrow end of the bung. Fit the bung carrying the funnel into the hole from inside the can, so

that it is pointing slightly upwards - see diagram. Connect the pipette filler bulb to the funnel stem using short lengths of glass
and rubber tubing. Place a short length of candle (or a nightlight) inside the coffee tin and stick it down with a little molten wax.

2 This apparatus can be improvised in a number of ways, but it is important that the resulting apparatus can blow a cloud of
cornflour into the candle flame when the pipette filler is squeezed. An alternative arrangement is to place a small crucible inside
the can, to contain the cornflour, and replace the funnel with a glass tube bent at right-angles, so that it's tip is directed
downwards into the crucible. Some prior experimentation and adjustment may be needed to ensure the demonstration works
well.

Procedure
1 Place a few grams of cornflour in the funnel. This may be more easily done before finally putting the funnel in place inside the
can, and connecting it to the pipette bulb.
2 Light the candle and quickly fit the tin lid. Quickly (before the candle goes out) give the pipette filler a rapid squeeze to blow the
fine cornflour powder into the candle flame, keeping your head well back. The resulting rapid combustion of the finely-divided
cornflour blows the lid off the tin.

Teaching notes
The demonstration can be set in context with stories about the explosion risks of powders such as sawdust from sanders,
custard powder and flour in mills and coal dust explosions in mines. The latter can be contrasted with the difficulty often
encountered in igniting large lumps of coal when lighting a fire.
The increase in surface area caused by fine sub-division can be illustrated with eight identical wooden cubes (eg Tillichs bricks)
built into a 2 x 2 x 2 cube. The surface area of this can be shown to be (2 x 2) x 6 sides = 24 units. When the cube is broken into
its eight constituent bricks, the total surface area is now (1 x 1) x 6 sides x 8 cubes = 48 units. Also, shading the outside of the 2
x 2 x 2 cube with chalk before breaking it up will show that more surface is exposed when the cube is broken up because each
of the smaller cubes will have three shaded and three unshaded faces.
Cornflour (a carbohydrate) burns rapidly because of its high total surface area to volume ratio, which allows oxygen in the air to
come into to contact with the fuel easily. This demonstration is a good illustration of energy changes in chemical reactions, and
that some compounds have a lot of energy locked up in them. Students can be asked to identify the types of energy involved as
the lid flies off - heat, light, sound, kinetic and potential (the lid at the top of its trajectory). The idea of activation energy could be
introduced to a suitable class.
Health & Safety checked, September 2014

Credits
This Practical Chemistry resource was developed by the Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Society of Chemistry

Websites
WARNING: There are many video-clips placed by adults and youngsters on websites such as YouTube and MySpace which
demonstrate such powder explosions, including some from school laboratories. In many of these, safety was clearly not a prime
consideration for those performing the experiments. These should not be shown in school in case they serve to encourage very
hazardous experimentation by youngsters, possibly culminating in injury or worse.

Page last updated October 2015