Book 1, Question 132
Why Does Chocolate Melt in Your Hand? Cocoa Butter Science!
Chocolate is full of special fats, and those fats melt near body heat. Your hand is about 37 degrees C, which is warm enough to turn solid chocolate soft, smooth and eventually liquid. The page says cocoa butter is designed by nature to melt near skin heat. Try holding one square in a cool spoon and another in your palm to compare.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 1
More fun facts
- The fat in chocolate comes from cocoa butter, which can form six different kinds of crystals.
- Which crystals form changes how chocolate looks and even how it sounds when you break it.
- Chocolate makers heat and cool chocolate carefully in a process called tempering. It gives chocolate its snap.
- The white coating on an old chocolate bar is called bloom. It happens when the bar softens and then hardens again.
- Bloom is harmless, but if chocolate looks or smells wrong in other ways, it could be mold, so don't eat it.
- You can use a chocolate bar and a microwave with the turntable removed to help measure the speed of light, with an adult's help.
Sources: BBC
Questions kids ask
What is the white stuff on old chocolate?
It's called bloom, tiny fat crystals that form after the chocolate softens and hardens again. It's harmless.
What does tempering chocolate do?
It controls the fat crystals so the chocolate is glossy and snaps cleanly.