Ask A Scientist Chemistry Archive

Question:  What is a sugar substance that is flammable?
 wrsundling

Answer:
All sugars are flammable! They can all be burned and energy will
be released; in fact this is exactly what your body does in a
controlled fashion; it "burns" sugars and uses the energy generated.
The reason that sugar doesn't burst into flame in your sugar
bowl (or even when you hold a match to it) is that a catalyst is
required to get the reaction started and keep it going in
a sustained fashion. I actually have set sugar aflame as part of
a classroom demonstration; however, knowing how many pyromaniacs
there are out there I'm definitely not going to post the instructions...
sorry!
 
Hope this answered your question
 
-dr topper