Sugar & Acid Starts A Fire

Purpose:

1. To understand what spontaneous combustion is.
2. To learn why mixing random chemicals together can be disasterous.

Materials:

1. Sugar (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁)
2. KClO₃
3. Concentrated H₂SO₄

Procedure:

1. Put sugar in a mortar and powder it.
2. In a seperate or clean mortar, powder the KClO₃. (NOTE: Do not powder KClO₃ and sugar in the same mortar because the friction may cause combustion.)
3. Mix 1 gram of KClO₃ with 2 grams of sugar and mix gently.
4. Put a pile of the mixture on a metal tin or a different substance that is not flamable.
5. Put 2 drops of H₂SO₄ onto the pile, and quickly stand back. (NOTE: You may want to do this under a hood.)