Hey did you hear about Mikey? Rumor has it, he ate pop rocks and drank soda at the same time and his stomach exploded. Scary claim, but truth is, Mikey is fine. Apparently he lives in New York these days.
But Pop Rock's website says the rumors about Mikey got so bad, the FDA had to set up a hot line in Seattle for people to call to dispel the rumor and assure parents that the candy was safe for kids.
Decades later, Myth Busters tested it, and no, it can't happen.
2 Wants To Know had to bring up Mikey, because we got a Kids Want to Know question about Pop Rocks.
Alyssa Strickland asked, "Why Pop Rocks candy pops and crackles when you eat them?"
2 Wants to Know asked food science professor Dr. Keith Harris from North Carolina State University. Here's what he told us:
"So they pop in our mouths basically for the same reason that soda makes bubbles on our tongue. If you think about what makes soda work is carbon dioxide bubbles. So what happen with Pop Rocks is that the recipe includes a little bit of milk sugar, so you'll see lactose on the label and then includes basically the same ingredients that are in these hard candies. Then you add carbon dioxide under pressure. When you do that all under pressure what happen is those little bubbles are trapped inside of the candy and there waiting for you to let them go. As soon as you put the candies on your tongue then what happen is that carbon dioxide is already released and you get little explosions of carbon dioxide on your tongue so that's what's going on with Pop Rocks.
2 Wants To Know what your kids want to know. Send in your kid's question by emailing cell phone video to 2WTK@wfmy.com