Experiment: how to make sweet fire with sugar and potassium permanganate

For cool and safe chemistry experiments sign up to MEL Science here: https://goo.gl/6KxR2X Ex­per­i­ments with potas­si­um per­man­ganate are per­haps the most in­ter­est­ing and straight­for­ward, but they are also quite dan­ger­ous. These ex­per­i­ments can in­volve a change of col­or, ex­plo­sions or burn­ing. Reagents and equip­ment: * potas­si­um per­man­ganate; * sug­ar; * beaker; * match­es or lighter. Step-by-step in­struc­tions Mix potas­si­um per­man­ganate and sug­ar in a beaker in a ra­tio of 1:1. Light the mix­ture. The mix­ture burns. Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion Sug­ar does not burn in it­self, but melts. But if it is mixed with potas­si­um per­man­ganate and lit, the mix­ture burns with a yel­low-blue flame. The potas­si­um per­man­ganate, as a strong ox­i­diz­er, ox­i­dizes the sug­ar and it burns. C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ + 16KM­nO₄ = 16M­nO₂ + 8K₂­CO₃ + 11H₂O + 4CO₂