The idea for this activity came about when Jewel asked how glass is made.

We explained that glass is made in a factory, where they get lots of tiny little
grains of the purest sand, and heat it up until it is so hot that it becomes
molten, and then it turns into glass.

But the questions kept coming. The next one was “What does molten
mean?” We explained that molten is when something is so hot that it turns
into a liquid. Different things become molten at different temperatures. Water
becomes molten at 0oC. Sand needs a much higher temperature to become
molten.

“But why doesn’t glass look like sand?”

Hmm, that’s a trickier one to explain. Perhaps it’s easier to demonstrate.

We’re not able to make actual glass in my own kitchen, but we can make a
very close replica – edible sugar glass!
Just like real glass, sugar glass is made from tiny opaque grains (of, in this
case, sugar) which when molten and allowed to cool, transform into
an amorphous transparent sheet, which is solid yet brittle. What does
amorphous mean? We’ll get on to that later. First, let’s try making the
stuff.

To make edible sugar glass, you need:

o 1
/2 cup caster sugar (also called superfine sugar)
 o 40ml glucose syrup (or corn syrup)
o 60ml water
o pinch cream of tartar
o butter (or spray oil)
o baking paper
o cooking thermometer

The original recipe that we followed called for corn syrup, but that’s tricky
to find in Australia, so we used glucose syrup instead. Since it’s mainly the
water component which differs between these syrups, which will be boiled
off anyway, I think you should be able to use either. You’ll also need some
common household items like a large saucepan, spoon for stirring, baking
tray, measuring spoons, etc.

What to do
1. Line a baking tray with baking paper, and grease with butter (or
cooking spray).

2. Measure out the sugar, glucose syrup, water and cream of tartar into a
large saucepan.
The kids can help with this bit. You might want to point out how the sugar
looks like fine white (opaque) grains at this point.

3. Slowly bring the mixture to the boil, until it reaches 150oC (300oF)..
This part is best done by an adult – firstly because 150 oC is very hot. And
secondly, because this part is not very exciting and requires a lot of patience.
The key word here is to heat the mixture “slowly”. If you heat it too fast, it
will start to caramelise and become yellow.

Once the water has boiled off, the temperature will start to rise. The amount
of time this takes may vary – it’s more about the temperature reached than
the time taken. A candy thermometer which clips onto the saucepan would be
perfect, but Mr Banya used our cheap hand-held cooking thermometer,
and that still worked just fine. For reference, it took 40 minutes for our batch
to reach the target temperature.
4. Take the molten sugar glass off the stove and pour onto the lined
baking tray.
Try to spread it across the baking tray as much possible – the thinner the
mixture, the thinner your sugar glass will be. Don’t touch it! It will still be
incredibly hot. Let sit for an hour to cool.

5. Call the kids over, because this is the fun bit!

Carefully lift the sugar glass off the tray, and peel back the baking paper.
Notice that the opaque sugar has turned into transparent ‘glass’.

Drop the glass onto the baking paper, and watch it shatter into shards, just
like real glass! (Be careful, some of those shards may be sharp enough to
cut.) Taste it! It’s very sweet.
6. Store any left over sugar glass in a sealed container in the fridge.
Because sugar glass is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts water from the
surrounding environment), it will quickly soften and lose it’s brittle quality if
exposed to humidity.
Real glass is created by heating sand (which is mostly silicon dioxide) to
1700°C (3090°F). Wow, that’s really, really hot! When the molten sand
cools, it transforms into a special kind of substance called
an amorphous solid. Usually when things are solid, their molecules and atoms
are arranged in an orderly structure. With amorphous solids, the molecules
are arranged in a disorganised structure, which is more like the structure
you’d usually find in a liquid. It’s this disorganised structure that makes
amorphous solids transparent and brittle. You can simulate creating glass in
your kitchen by melting sugar instead of sand. Molten sugar turns into
another amorphous solid, called edible glass or candy glass, and has a glassy,
translucent appearance.
Mixing together pantry ingredients is a fun (and often tasty) way to explore
chemistry with kids in your own kitchen. This activity is only suitable for
kids with the comprehension skills to understand the difference between
edible sugar glass and regular glass, in that broken pieces of regular glass are
not to be touched or put into their mouths. Molten sugar is VERY hot and can
easily scald. I recommend adults stir and pour the molten sugar, with kids
only observing this process. All kids’ activities on this blog require attentive
adult supervision. Parents and carers will need to judge whether a particular
activity is appropriate their child’s age and skill level. Click here for more
information.
For more tasty science ideas, check out our edible science experiments page. Some of
our favourites are:
 how to make fizzy sherbet
 homemade Anzac biscuits
 how to make homemade butter
 how to make curds and whey (or homemade ricotta cheese)

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