Pop Rocks have a kind of novelty that feels a little like magic. Sure, there are lots of other nostalgic, classic candies, but no matter how many times you’ve torn open a bag of Pop Rocks and tossed a handful in your mouth, that jarring feeling comes as a surprise as the candies hit the roof of your mouth with a dozen mini explosions. However, it’s often true that many things that seem like magic are just science that we don’t understand — and the same goes for Pop Rocks. So, how do these colorful, fizzy candies work?
Discovered by accident in the 1950s by a food chemist who was trying to create a sort of instant soda pop, the candy is the result of carbon dioxide (CO₂, the same gas that makes champagne bubbly) pumped into melting hard candy. Once the candy hardens, it’s smashed into small pieces that retain tiny pockets of trapped gas that are released when the shell around them melts from the saliva in your mouth — hence the syncopated pops. They first hit shelves in the 1970s, and their sweet, shocking originality has given them longevity, and they remain up there with the best childhood candies of all time.
Rumors and fun facts
Pop Rocks did have one thing against it for a time: a pervasive rumor that swallowing the candies with a swig of carbonated soda could make your stomach explode from the pure force of the gas released. Certainly a harrowing concern, especially for protective parents — and not exactly one that anyone wanted to offer to test out. Luckily, we don’t have to because “MythBusters” did it for us.
In the show’s first episode, hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman mixed six packs of Pop Rocks and a six-pack of soda in a pig’s stomach. The result? The stomach remained intact, although it did significantly expand from the carbon dioxide that was released. So, don’t worry! Whether handed out at a kid’s birthday party or used as a creative garnish for a fancy cocktail, Pop Rocks are unlikely to be the cause of anyone’s untimely demise (though they might cause bloating). And just because it’s cool, here’s a party trick for you to pull out next time you find yourself with a packet of the colorful candies: If you swallow them whole and have your friends put their ears to your stomach, they should be able to hear them sizzling within!
