Introduction

Sugar are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. In addition, sugar is a
carbohydrate that provide energy for the body. Sugar can be classified into 3 types and 2
categories; monosaccharides and disaccharides are simple sugar, and polysaccharides are
complex sugar. Simple sugar is the sugar that composed of one or two sugar molecules such as
glucose, fructose (fruit), and galactose (milk, yogurt, and cheese). It is the short-term energy and
easily to be digested by body. But, complex sugar are the long polymers of monosaccharides
such as white bread, and cakes. It takes a longer time for body to break down the sugar
molecules (digestion) than simple sugar because it has more complex structure. The blood sugar
levels will be stabilized by a hormone called insulin that made by pancreas. Four property of
sugar are sweetness, caramelization, solubility, and crystallization. The sweetness of sugar can be
tasting by taste bud on the tongue inside the mouth. In addition, the factor that affect sensation of
sweetness are concentration, temperature, pH value and other ingredients. Caramelization is the
chemical reaction or oxidation (between sugar and sugar) and non-enzymatic browning reaction.
Non-enzymatic browning reaction is the chemical reaction without the enzyme. The process of
caramelization will be occurring when the sugar was heated. Therefore, the reaction will remove
water molecules and break down the molecules of sugar. The temperature that caramelization
reaction occurs depended by the type of sugar. For instance, the caramelization of sugar will
happen around 338 F (Exploratorium, 2015). It will change the color of sugar from white to
brown color and also create the aroma odor. Solubility of sugar is the ability of sugar that can be
dissolve in water. Solubility of sugar can be divided into two steps. First, saturated solution is the
solution that unable to absorb or dissolve any more solute (sugar) at a given temperature
(Petrucci et al., 2014). But supersaturated solution is the solution that contain more dissolved
solute than it would normally hold at that condition. The last property of sugar is crystallization.
Crystallization is the process when the solution becomes supersaturated solution. After
supersaturated solution begin to cool, the solute that cant be dissolve (cant changing to liquid
substance) in the solution will begin to grow as a crystal.

In the experiment, crystallization is one of the process that used to create rock candy (crystal).
The process of crystallization has been created by adding sugar into the water that have been
heated until the water became supersaturated solution. The crystal will start growing on the sugar
stick after the supersaturated solution began cooling down. The molecules of sugar that cant
dissolve or start settle on the bottom of the beaker will attract to the sugar around the stick to
create rock candy. The purpose of this experiment is to understand how to create rock candy
(crystal) by using the property of sugar; solubility and crystallization.

References
Exploratorium. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/caramels-
st ory.html

Petrucci, Harwood, & Herring (2014, January). Types of saturation. Retrieved from
https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Equilibria/Solubilty/Types_of_Saturation

Submitted by Phatsakorn Rodphol (field) 1002