M&M’s vs. Skittles: no clear winner in the candy war (2024)

FAQs

Does the Skittle Experiment work with M&Ms? ›

It's a very simple experiment that involves pouring water into a plate that has M&M's candies or Skittles arranged in a pattern. Very curious shapes of sharply divided regions form spontaneously. How does this happen?! Arrange some M&M's candies (Skittles also work well) on a Styrofoam plate and pour in some water.

Both candies have their drawbacks, but M&Ms take the victory with their peanut variety's protein content and the lower sugar content of their fun-size pack, making them a better choice for your sweet tooth.

Other than the main difference of flavor, there's a couple other variants that are worth noting. M&M's are made by Mars Chocolate and have been around since the 1940s. Skittles are made by Wrigley, which is a part of Mars Inc., and were made in 1974. Even in their differences there are some similarities!

Apparently the Skittles are made of all sugar which is why the entire candy dissolved so quickly and even the “S” on top dissolved fast so we really had to pay attention. The “m” on the M&M's are made of more than just sugar so the m's hang around a bit longer and only the sugary coating dissolves, not the chocolate.

My procedure was putting different colored skittles in each of the liquids, and seeing how fast, and how long it took for the skittles to melt. For my results, the Mountain Dew was the fastest dissolver, with a time of 25 secs., Apple Cider Vinegar had 31 secs., Water had 36 secs., and Oil never dissolved.

Allow the M&M's to soak in the water for 10-20 minutes. As the M&Ms sit in the water, you will witness the colored dyes start to dissolve into the water. After a bit more time passes, you will see a translucent shell, along with the white “M” float to the surface of the water.

After about two minutes in contact with water, Skittles lose its outer coating. After about 12 minutes, half of the Skittle have been dissolved, and after about 25 minutes of sitting in the water, all Skittles have completely dissolved.

You've seen that water is the best liquid for dissolving the candy coating from an M&M.

Students place an M&M in water and see the colored sugar coating dissolve around the M&M. Students help develop a model to explain that the attraction of water molecules for sugar and color (dye) molecules is a good explanation for why the sugar coating dissolves.