Nick went out in flames.
Nicholas Klann held the gummy bear, nicknamed after himself, over the tube for a second before dropping "Nick" to his demise inside a solution of potassium perchlorate.
A stream of white smoke poured out of the tube, but without the flame Klann anticipated.
Burning gummy bears was just one of several demonstrations by the Auburn Chemistry Graduate Student Association at its tailgate outside the chemistry building Saturday, Oct. 26 before the football game.
Working with the American Chemical Society and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, several graduate students performed experiments for an enthusiastic group of children.
"We have a really strong oxidizing agent inside of a test tube, and we melt it with a bunsen burner flame," said Phong Ngo, chemistry and bio-chemistry Ph.D student.
"Once it's molten, you drop in any sugar source -- in this case, it'll be gummy bears -- and it'll cause very large flames or an explosion. It's pretty cool."
The young audience named each gummy bear after a graduate student before it was dropped into the tube.
"We just have some simple, fun explosions and color-changing experiments," said Jessica Brooks, graduate student studying bioanalytical chemistry.
When she put Mentos inside a bottle of generic cola and created a spout almost as tall as the nearby pillars, Brooks covered the sidewalk in front of the chemistry building with soda that exploded from the bottle.
"It's just so much fun," Brooks said.
The CGSA kept a table in front of its tent covered in experiments, including a self-stirring solution that changed colors every few seconds and a pumpkin exhaling smoke from dry ice.
To the right of the table, Anne Gorden, associate professor of organic chemistry, ladled out chunky vanilla ice cream made from liquid nitrogen.
The graduate students also made slimy blue silly putty with glue and borax, an experiment that drew attention.
Klann dipped an apple in liquid nitrogen and hurled the apple onto the sidewalk, causing it to shatter.
The kids watching talked among themselves at the sight.
In the background, the adults helped themselves to the free food the club gives out every week.
"The department always has had a departmental tailgate," Ngo said. "Having a student organization that was responsible for raising funds and putting on demonstrations like this would help fund it, and we used those funds to help start the tailgate."
The CGSA students arrived at 8 a.m. to set up, even though the Auburn vs. Florida Atlantic game started at 6 p.m.
"Hopefully, this will be the first of an annual event," said John Gorden, assistant professor of chemistry.
Gorden said he hopes the event will attract more potential students to learn more about chemistry.
"There's really not a lot of activities for kids to think about science," Gorden said.
The CSGA also wants to bring a larger group of current students.
"I know we've had a lot of undergrads come by and stop and they'll talk to us," Brooks said. "They're like, 'Oh, these people are normal, chemistry's not that bad.'"
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