Oreo Powered Rocket
Food contains an amazing amount of energy. The energy in food is typically released when, through a complex biochemical pathway, sugars, starches and fats react with oxygen from the lungs. It’s a form of slow-motion burning that, thankfully, rarely involves fire.
But you can liberate the same amount of energy in much less time by mixing a Snickers bar with a more concentrated source of oxygen—say, the potent oxidizer potassium perchlorate. The result is basically rocket fuel. Ignited on an open fireproof table, it burns vigorously, consuming an entire candy bar in a few seconds with a rushing tower of fire.
Oreo cookie filling works very nicely in standard model-rocket engines. With food-grade potassium nitrate as the oxidizer, the result is high-power rocket fuel that you could feed to the kids—although I don’t recommend it. See the Popular Science site for the full story.
