Why does chocolate melt?
Chocolate melts because it gets soft and runny when it gets warm.
Pip’s answer
- Chocolate melts because it gets soft and runny when it gets warm.
- Chocolate has a fat called cocoa butter, which turns runny when warm.
- Warm tiny bits wiggle apart, so the chocolate slides into a puddle. Gloop!
- Wow-ee, chocolate can melt at about the warmth of your mouth! Yum!
For grown-ups
Chocolate contains cocoa butter, a fat that melts at around 34 to 38 °C, just below body temperature. That's why chocolate melts in your mouth and in a warm pocket. Chocolate makers carefully cool it to form stable fat crystals that give a snappy, shiny bar.
Ask your child: Where should we keep chocolate so it doesn't melt?
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