On Friday, Sept. 22, the State High was evacuated after the fire alarms went off and a voice over the loudspeaker told people to evacuate. Many students and staff alike were confused about what happened. It turns out the evacuation was due to one green gummy bear that was set on fire by Doug Schunk, a chemistry teacher.
Students came up with many possible reasons for the evacuation, but little did they know that it was just a science experiment in 11th grade chemistry.
Mr. Schunk explained the purpose of the experiment.
“I was doing this demonstration that I have done for years ever since I first started teaching 18 years ago. You take potassium chlorate and heat it up and it just melts, and whenever it’s melting we have a conversation because we are talking about chemical vs. physical changes,” Schunk said. “And I say ‘ok it’s melted, is that a chemical or physical change?’ Hopefully, the students figure out it’s physical because it’s still the same chemical. No chemical reaction has happened so it’s just a physical change.”
Schunk further detailed what happened. “I’ve done it before with wood splints, but that’s kinda boring. So I’ve been using gummy bears to do it. All you do is you take the gummy bear and throw it down the test tube and it makes like a bunch of fire. It also makes a bunch of smoke, but it’s not hazardous smoke. It smells like burnt marshmallows by the time it’s done because you burnt it in sugar. It’s kinda funny because you put this little innocent gummy bear in a test tube and now it’s getting burnt up and producing all this smoke, and energy, and light. I’ve never had an issue with it and so this is the first time I’ve done it in this room because this room I think the problem is that the smoke alarm is closer in this room to the demo table than it is in other chemistry rooms.”
In other chemistry rooms, it may have been okay but in D202 it was not okay to have the experiment outside of the fume hood. Student Lilia Sahoo was in the class when it happened.
“Mr. Schunk said he had done that lab before in other classrooms and the fire alarm never went off, so maybe if the lab wasn’t done in the classroom we used,” Sahoo said.
Despite the challenges, students believe Schunk should do the experiment again in the future. Sahoo said he should consider continuing to do the experiment, but proceed with caution. “I mean, it was fun to watch before the alarm went off. And Mr. Schunk said that previous classes really liked watching the gummy bear burn in the test tube, so I think he should do it again, but maybe with some caution to prevent the fire alarm going off,” Sahoo said.
The effect of the gummy bear will be remembered for its humorous backstory.
“Who knew a singular green gummy bear could have such an impact on so many people? It’s hilarious to think about,” Sahoo said.
Although it was funny, Schunk recognized the consequences of his actions.
“I know it was inconvenient to some teachers. I know some teachers were giving tests and that made it a little more stressful for their students so I feel bad about that and I apologize, but I mean it’s a gummy bear causing it, which is kind of funny,” Schunk explained.
Schunk realized how something so small or insignificant can impact so many people so much.
