Fact Check: Viral video showing a powder erupting like a volcano is not Kurkure powder
Consumption of junk food has detrimental effects on children’s well-being. Highly processed junk food wreaks havoc on
Claim :
Viral video shows Kurkure powder when ignited burning and erupting like a volcanoFact :
The substance burning is not Kurkure powder, it is Ammonium dichromate, which is used in experiments to demonstrate volcanic eruptions
Consumption of junk food has detrimental effects on children’s well-being. Highly processed junk food wreaks havoc on children’s metabolic health, making them pre-diabetic, obese. Junk food has no or very little nutritional value, depriving growing bodies of essential vitamins, minerals and micronutrients. Experts say that there is a link between junk food consumption and adverse behavioral and cognitive outcomes in children, including poor concentration, mood disturbances, etc.
Kurkure is considered to be an unhealthy snack by several parents, as it is high in calories, unhealthy fats and often contains artificial flavors and preservatives. There have been several speculations that Kurkure contained plastic. Several social media users shared claim that after burning, the residue is found to be plastic.
A video shows an orange powder, when set on fire, starts burning like a firecracker and later looks like a volcano leaving a brown charcoal. The video has Telugu text on it claiming “మీరు చూస్తుంది దీపావళి బాంబ్ కాదు. రోజూ మీరు
Here is the Archive link of the Claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video does not show the burning of Kurkure powder.
When we extracted keyframes from the video and searched them using Google reverse image search, we found that the video was shared on an Instagram account named sarveshtripathimaxscience with the caption “Hands-on Science experiments. World's Best Experiments.. India's No.1 and Only Science Centre For Kids.. Contact: 9979976569 / 9574524836 https://youtube.
When we checked the comments on this post, we found several users stating that the experiment uses Ammonium Dichromate, which is very toxic and highly carcinogenic. Not safe at all.
We also found the same video published on their YouTube channel named Sarvesh Tripathi Max Science. The experiment was held at science centre for early science education for kids in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Upon further search, we found a few other videos showing the same experiment. One such YouTube video was published with title Ammonium Dichromate demonstration.
Using this as a cue, when searched using the keywords “Ammonium Dichromate”, we found another YouTube video published in February 2019, with the description “With just some slight encouragement in the form of activation energy, Ammonium Dichromate can undergo a very exothermic and impressive decomposition reaction. Due to the production of gases in the reaction, and the lower density solid product formed, a "volcano" effect occurs and is always a crowd-pleaser”
Hence, the viral video showing an orange powder when set on fire, igniting and burning like a volcano is not Kurkure powder. It is Ammonium Dichromate. The claim is False.
