Pop Rocks is a carbonated sugar candy with ingredients including sugar, lactose (milk sugar) corn syrup and flavoring. The idea of the product was patented by General Foods research chemist William A. Mitchell in 1956 and the Pop Rocks candy was offered to the public in 1975. Around 1983 General Foods stopped selling the candy; some would believe this was because of an urban legend. A few years after, in 1985 Kraft bought the rights to the candy product and re-marketed it as Action Candy through a company called Carbonated Candy.

The candy is made by mixing its ingredients and heating them until they melt, then exposing the mixture to pressurized Carbon Dioxide gas and allowing it to cool, trapping the pressurized gas inside.

When put in mouth the candy breaks and melts, releasing the carbon dioxide from the tiny 600psi bubbles, resulting in a popping and sizzling sound and leaving a slight tingling sensation. With the aid of a magnifying glass you can see the bubbles in the candy pieces.

Since 1979, Zeta Espacial S.A., a company based in the municipality of Rubí in Barcelona, Spain, has manufactured, sold, and exported the product.

Urban legend

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1975-1980s: During the product's heyday, rumors persisted that if a person ate Pop Rocks and drank cola, their stomach would explode. The company spent large sums sending out flyers to debunk the rumor. This is, in part, caused by the false assumption that pop rocks contain an acid/base mixture, like baking soda and vinegar, which produces large volumes of gas when mixed through chewing and saliva.

The most famous of these folk lore, a child named Mikey from the Life cereal commercial was said to have died after eating a Pop Rocks and Cola mixture.

1994: In the Simpsons-Episode Homer Badman, Homer is mixing Pop Rocks into a can of Buzz Cola, which results in a huge explosion.

1998: In the horror film Urban Legend a folklore professor asks a student to eat Pop Rocks and drink cola. The student refused because she believed it would kill her, just like "that kid in the cereal commercial." Another student then did both and pretended to die.

2001: A couple living in northern California sued Baskin-Robbins. Their 5 year old daughter ate the "Shrek Swirl" flavored ice-cream which had Pop Rocks. The girl complained of stomach pain and was taken to the hospital where doctors allegedly inserted a tube to relieve gas pressure from the girl's stomach.

2003: The TV series MythBusters managed to disprove the rumor by mixing Pop Rocks and Cola inside a pig's stomach. (The UK television programme Science Abuse later performed a debunking, slightly less subtly, using a female volunteer).

External links

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• Zeta Espacial's website, with list of Pop Rock-related products
• Pop Rocks Candy website, Wacky and wonderful Pop Rocks
• Rumors about the dangers of Pop Rocks, from the Urban Legends Reference Pages.
• How do Pop Rocks candy work?, an article from HowStuffWorks that explains how pop rocks candy is manufactured and also has links to the original patent

Confectionery