Optical Chocolate - Making Diffraction Gratings

We explain the principle of diffraction and how to make diffraction gratings in very unusual materials; sugar candy and chocolate.

[@realcygnus]

Far out ! order it by the Kilo LOL.........meanwhile down at the docks, pssssst hey bub, you wanna buy diffraction grating ? Eatables with visual Quantum effects ......the yutes are gonna love this.

[@TechIngredients]

That's right. The first one's free and before they realize it, they're doing physics. Sneaky.

[@JoeJoeTater]

obligatory nitpicking: I'd call diffraction a classical effect, since it's predicted by a wave-only E&M model of light.

[@TechIngredients]

Pick nits, that's OK. But, remember that the diffraction effect will occur even if the illumination is limited to a single photon, during the time of flight, flux. This is true for the well known slit experiment. So, maybe quantum effects are operating here as well.

[@rionmotley2514]

@@TechIngredients what about a chocolate quantum eraser? Chocolate holograms? Saccharide holographic optics? O.o

[@grainsalt9662]

@@TechIngredients I could not find your link to buy the polymer for imprinting the chocolate. Any amazon links to the product?

[@AppliedScience]

I'm so glad that KZbin recommended your channel to me. Great stuff!

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks! We've been fans of yours for years

[@sshuggi]

It's similar to your gecko tape you were trying to make. Makes me wonder what other cool surface effects can be cloned with this "casting" method. Like making a windshield with an inherent hydrophobic lotus leaf surface or mass producing some chemical activation site/quantum effect.

[@TechIngredients]

This is a whole area of engineering covering meta-materials. Nano scale structural modifications that create significantly different properties than those present in the bulk material.

[@CanadianAlien20]

sshuggi Dangit! I was just about to suggest using this technique for the gecko tape!

[@hvanmegen]

Me too!

[@thethoughtemporium]

Great video!! I've got to try this with other things. Super cool concept. I wonder if you used an actual hologram if you could transfer the pattern

[@SimoWill75]

The Thought Emporium I was thinking the same thing, putting a white light reflection holo on candy/choc would be very cool.

[@RobertSzasz]

There are folks selling exactly that.

[@MegaStalker11]

how would that work?

[@procactus9109]

Holograms on chocolate, yes. Just make an engraved hologram. And do the exact same procedure. You can make them with a compass ;) Do a video, should be easy.

[@forbiddencrystalinternet6201]

This comment section is a straight-up whos-who of youtube, I LOVED your cloud chamber video

[@tannersword1]

After watching this, I used it for my Christmas bake-off at work. I work in a semiconductor fab, so I made electrostatic chuck cakes with hard candy wafers. I poured the candy onto 2 axis diffraction grating sheets. It turned out great. It was a close 2nd.

[@marietroitskaia]

So cool! What is the name of the film you used? I want to order on Amazon, but I'm afraid to make a mistake with the choice

[@erina6319]

@@marietroitskaia i'm a different person, but i used used the Double Axis Diffraction Grating sheet 13,500 lines/inch.

[@cranebrainmeadow]

can you also see the color shift from the other side of the flat sugar, the side that wasn’t in contact with the mold?

[@1TieDye1]

What the heck came first? You used diffraction to make some of the prettiest candy of all time lol

[@skivvy3565]

2nd?!?! What the hell was first

[@jaysonlee8625]

This is the best cooking video ever. Finally chocolate tempering and why we add glucose into candy is explained.

[@AdmiralBob]

A couple of weeks as a subscriber and I have come to a realization... I'm deeply jealous of your work-space.

[@thegenerousdegenerate9395]

Admiral Bob I believe you meant *envious. 😜

[@bloodyl_uk]

Same here, nice place. :)

[@michaeljordan215]

What educated, tech savy, creator isn't?

[@csplinter]

I nominate you to be dad of youtube.

[@Pnoid33]

Clearly one of the best tutorials ever - excellent scientific explanation followed by an edible and visually interesting result - thank you!

[@danaketh]

You remind me of my physics teacher. He always explained to us how things work by showing us. One thing I'll never forget is when he showed us how vacuum affects various materials and objects. You should have way more subscriptions. Awesome channel.

[@marianwilliams8116]

Why I like this..when I was in HS, my Home Economics teacher taught us the science behind everything involved in food and it's preparation. How shortening shortens the strands of gluten in biscuit dough was one example(simplified version) , suspensions, coagulation, muscle structure of different cuts of meat on the molecular level and even the physics of how a knife blade cuts . I'm so glad I found this video. You're an excellent presenter and teacher. I know how hard it is to impart knowledge/thoughts from your own brain to others in a way that ensures they see and absorb what you are sharing. I was able to follow your verbal input without " rewinding" once. Great job! 👍💯👌And I love the smile and obvious enjoyment of the Chocolate at the end.. charmingly human you brainy guy.🤭 (Linda Resnick, Lafayette H.S. Brooklyn NY: KUDOS to you,!)

[@qzh00k]

I worked with gratings in applied optical emission spectrometers used to identify trace elements in the parts per billion. The manufacture of the gratings is similar, kind of. That measurement science has improved so much since, and now chocolate flavored. Nice!

[@ScottBuildsThings]

I love the style and format of these videos and I can't wait to see more. Your approach is accessible and informative -- certainly an inspiration. The videos take me back to the awe and wonder inspired by great science teachers, something I didn't realize I missed so dearly until just this moment. I hope that you do this for a long time.

[@3.2.1.0]

Space-age analysis and breakdown of light interaction, on a quantum level , to create iridescent candy and chocolate. Wow. I have watched just about all your videos sir, and I keep coming back for your excellently detailed and clear explanations , step-by-step execution and general awesomeness. Keep up the good work!

[@stevenfox2172]

Have you noticed that you are the only channel in existence who has such overwhelmingly positive responses? Because science -is- cool.

[@TechIngredients]

Yes...it is!

[@NickMoore]

Weird! I would never have thought that chocolate could hold surface details small enough to act as a grating!

[@WitchOracle]

Ann Reardon recently experimented with this film and threw out a few measurements: the grooves in the sheet are approximately 2 microns wide, meanwhile the tongue can sense anything as small as 30 microns as "gritty" - she speculated that chocolate manufacturers that spend enough time milling the chocolate particles so that their product feels smooth are probably getting it small enough to fit into those 2 micron grooves. Wild!

[@JudayleDsouza]

The coco butter and cocoa solids are the two components of chocolate along with sugar and milk solids. The solids in chocolate are ground down to about 25 to 30 microns as you have mentioned but not beyond as it would make the mouth feel of chocolate too gummy. So it should be just the cocoa butter that is in there entering the groves to make the diffraction grate.

[@007travelbug]

I always come to this channel when I think everyone around me is stupid and I get frustrated. After watching any of your videos, I get a serious dose of humility.

[@kykk3365]

By far my favorite cooking channel!

[@hayuseen6683]

Art, science, and cooking? Yes please. This is a happy little edutainment video. Thanks

[@stefifi8522]

THIS IS AMAZING. I never knew you can achieve this type of technique to get it like that on chocolate!

[@michaelknight2342]

Everything about this was remarkable. Even my favourite KZbinrs are here. Holy crap.

[@hvanmegen]

Just watched one of the old video's.. the production quality has improved immensely! well done!

[@SomnolentFudge]

very cool. slight correction though, its not the exoskeleton of the bug used to make shellac it's actually a substance they secrete more like beeswax which is slightly less gross to eat than bug skeletons.

[@VGAstudent]

You've re-enforced my belief that every great cook is a good chemist, but truly masterful cooks know their chemistry.

[@Piotr_Lask]

God, if all teachers and university lecturers had such a talent to talk about difficult things in such a clear and interesting way, the world would consist of geniuses only. You are really brilliant, man. With every single video I have more and more respect. And all that started with ... your banana moonshine film 😎

[@DoomVik]

I was drooling the whole time you were making it and when you showed the end result my mind was blown...

[@unlokia]

Brilliant, BRILLIANT man, your videos are SO intensely focused, just so very calming and delightful to watch you working... but you ATE the product? That's grating on me a little... 😉😋

[@zagaberoo]

I never would have guessed this was possible without inedibly doping the chocolate. What an amazing result!

[@jorgetlw12]

i was avoiding this video in favor of your others, but now im glad i actually watched it. love the ending, good clean comedy

[@AaronALAI]

Seriously a great channel, very thorough and lucid explanations over diverse material.

[@theysayhiraeth1152]

Most interesting cooking video I have ever watched bar none. Love the review of light mechanics. Very well articulated and clear.

[@TechIngredients]

Thank you!

[@janeugster]

Fantastic channel! Really incredible how you manage to explain details of this projects of such a wide viarity by doing them in your shop. Just great!

[@maximilianpitscheider5034]

I absolutely love your channel. Creative, informative and so wholesome. Please continue with your fantastic content

[@hearmerant]

This is one of the best chocolate things I've ever seen!

[@HewroPreez]

dos equis needs to hire this guy. most interesting man, confirmed

[@fogfreak]

You know the candy's gonna be delicious when a variac is involved in making it.

[@texasdeeslinglead2401]

Loved the ending . excellent work.

[@skivvy3565]

This is the best cooking show I’ve seen. Lol

[@fgbhrl4907]

Awesome, another fan here. I really appreciate the effort you put into your content!

[@KowboyUSA]

Missed this video somehow. Great stuff. Thanks to Applied Science for the heads up.

[@ollieb9875]

Such a wonderful channel, thank you!

[@JesusisJesus]

If this guy was my Science Teacher in High School, I would've learned something.... Every day.

[@JimC]

That guy didn't have a guy like himself as a science teacher. His teacher was probably a lot like yours. Think about that.

[@j.eckerth1011]

I just love that you not just do the stuff, but you explain it in detail as well. I actually manage to make me interested in science again eben tho I hate in during the lessons. You're a great inspiration and make me think about own Projekts. I know it's very time consuming to make such high quality videos and it usually doesn't pay off in matters of subs and likes but u should know u leave a big impression behind. Please never stop making videos!

[@TechIngredients]

" If you build it they will come". We're in this for the long haul and all of us appreciate your reaction. Recognition is building, but more importantly it is based on real value rather than click bait.

[@j.eckerth1011]

Tech Ingredients That's the spirit!

[@talsilverman8870]

This is the cutest video you've ever done!!! Love it! Tasty physics 😂

[@victorsmith5854]

Your breath of topics astound me, keep it going. Enjoy your style and manner of explaining of the concepts. Many school teachers could learn from you.

[@DynamicOwl13]

My significant other is wanting to make epoxy resin molds with that diffraction effect. It does look pretty cool how these epoxy projects turn out after demolding.

[@RonNewsham]

Never tried sugar work or chocolate tempering - but no-one has really the physics and before. Enjoyed the bid, and looks as though you enjoyed the end product!

[@JoeMuc2008]

so satisfying! Thank you

[@DFMurray]

I'm diggin the tactleneck. Archer approved.

[@norwegianviking69]

Another great video! Thanks! I will start experimenting on how I can serve rainbow chocolate to my guests. Imagine to open a box of assorted chocolates, and se the rainbow shine.

[@chanheosican6636]

Neat! Never thought u can convert sugar into diffraction grating material.

[@vejymonsta3006]

This is the most controlled diy set up to make candy I've ever seen.

[@rigilchrist]

I'm a chocolatier. How did you come to acquire such a wide and deep knowledge in so many subjects? You are remarkable! (and very interesting).

[@Davepping]

Great info, awesome video! Thank you so much for doing this channel and all these great experiments. :)

[@TechIngredients]

You're welcome!

[@johncuzzourt2118]

Mmm. Delicious optics experiments!

[@LibreImpacto]

beautiful. I imagine they don't last too long, so we'll never see this commercially- but what an effect! Rainbow chocolates!

[@GTS00000]

Absolutely beautiful videos! Keep'em coming please! One suggestion/request/wish: It would be great if you could dedicate a video to your design process when it comes to building/designing electro-optical systems. i.e. what kind of software package(s) you use and how. where do you source parts and what are the essentials in your lab. etc...

[@51rwyatt]

I haven't had chocolate in a long time, and for some reason this video gave me cravings. Luckily, my wife has a dedicated chocolate stash for these situations.

[@tamasmihaly1]

You explain ideas in a very approachable way.

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks!

[@interstellaraxeman4468]

This channel is the perfect medium to defract your incredible wealth of knowlege..... An ideal explainer of complexities in a brilliantly detailed yet understandable way, you illuminate an untold mystery into a memorable learning experience. Cool stuff,...I find each video to be this way. Thank You

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks, that's kind.

[@GreanePin]

Don't know your name yet, but dude, it took 2 videos of yours for me to instantly subscribe. You're obviously very well educated and very interesting. Looking forward to watching every one of your videos.. Thank you for the great content, always appreciated. No click bait, no bull shit. Just pure entertainment!

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks!

[@Karathefox]

I love that subtle '39 seconds' setting on the microwave - I do the same thing. Think 30 sounds good enough, then immediately re-evaluate to 'hmm, maybe it shoulda been 40', so you just hit 9 to get it close enough x)

[@GoldSrc_]

Excellent videos, keep it up.

[@ryanpongracz8051]

THIS VIDEO, sent me down a rabbit hole that I just now after 30 intense days of Research, I am emerging, an absolute expert in this field and I have learned proprietary information on how to make counterfeit proof edibles.

[@raymondwood4477]

i love this guy!

[@jameslanglois2264]

How have I not discovered your videos until now? I’ve been sucked into the KZbin wormhole all night ever since I saw my first video from you. I’m excited to watch more. It all started with your styrofoam speaker video. I actually had two of those pieces of styrofoam I was going to use to insulate a window for my AC. I never ended up needing them and they’ve just been sitting in my garage. so I just ordered two actuators from Amazon to make them. Lol I look forward to making those and watching more from you.

[@zkossover]

I followed your instructions for the sugar candy and made lovely diffraction gratings, but they lasted for about an hour. After an hour or so, the diffraction effect went away. My guess is that the moisture in the air and in our breath as we ooo'ed and aww'ed over the rainbows was absorbed by the sugar, changing its shape and destroying the lines. Our next experiment will be trying to keep it in a plastic bag and see if it lasts longer.

[@Zoutsteen]

Finally someone who knows how cooking should be explained.

[@failedsocialexperiment2382]

I'm an amateur at candy making and these sorts of things are interesting, I'd use such techniques for a candy and put the candy out for Halloween just as a little fun novel thing to brighten up the holiday.

[@LokiScarletWasHere]

"Practice makes perfect" he says as he eats the finished product.

[@America-ev4rk]

That is really cool.

[@extropiantranshuman]

best part was he just talks and takes a bite out of the end, like it's no big deal that a lot of science went into it haha

[@TesikLP]

The Celsius grade/centigrade makes much more sense in cooking. I mean it makes more sense in pretty much every not-heavily-scientific case (measuring body temperature might be subject to discussion) but having the points of phase change of water as a reference is quite useful when you're dealing with water near its boiling point which cooking is a lot about

[@Cephalon_Shade]

This is such an odd video to watch. But it is an awesome one. Thanks!

[@Hobypyrocom]

i come here as recommendation from another channel while ago for your speakers video (i think it was AvE with his styrofoam speakers video) and didnt subscribe back then god knows why, now this video was recommended by youtube to me and this time i am not missing the chance :) i like the longevity and thoroughly explanation about the projects... great videos and great projects, keep up the good work and best wishes...

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks! We have a lot of neat things in the works.

[@tmcdon4ld]

This technique also works great for the bottom layer of 3d prints.

[@FieroFats]

This is awesome.

[@striderkiba9321]

This will make my garnish game for cocktail get to another level

[@josephf151]

Very nice!

[@christopherbenetatos5123]

Always great content 👍

[@ethanmye-rs]

Check out PDMS, which is a low cost silicone oil. You can polymerize it, but it flows incredibly easy, and will capture any detail very finely.

[@donwyates]

Fascinating!

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks!

[@handycrafted816]

Great video. I've in ordered a sheet to see if I can use this in my resin art!

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks and good luck!

[@rizkyp]

Looks delicious.

[@helmimajid3144]

Will you cover on how to make the grating film? I was thinking it might be a great idea to make picture out of the hologram or maybe even better, making grating that only reflect particular color. Like blue color in some butterfly's wings or color in anodized titanium. This is great idea btw

[@mm-yt8sf]

oh! this reminded me of something i saw occur by accident but could not find online how to do it on purpose..one day i noticed in a vending machine one of those chocolate cupcakes with the chocolate coating on top (like a ding dong) but i noticed it was very slightly sparkling (as my angle of viewing changed). it was not a blatant effect..i had to peer closely at it through the glass even to be sure it was sparkly...and thought maybe somehow crystals (sugar?) had formed on the surface of the topping. they were so small i wondered if it was necessary to have some kind of bright point source of light to see it best. anyway one day i bumped into someone who owned a bakery and asked her if that was a thing they might do on purpose but she had never heard of it..and online it seems like the only search results are of sprinkling sugars of different sizes but i'm pretty sure this was formed after packaging..it's hard to imagine a product being so subtle on purpose :-) so..might you know how to create this accident on purpose? it was very pretty...maybe if the crystals were larger though it'd be a better

[@cultuuedpetri]

neat, for sure.

[@q12x]

very nice lecture ! love it.

[@TechIngredients]

Thank you!

[@csmole1231]

this is the first vid i watched on this channel and now im revisiting it cuz Applied Science just did a vid on hologram chocolate! i remember feeling down one day and clicked on a recommendation vid from a candy shop making chocolate desserts, they are like really happy and energetic and family business vibe, but after half an hour i started drifting off and scrolling down the up next column: pretty much buried under tons of cooking show this not even recommended to me vid thumbnail and title look so attractive smh. and yaeh i then consider myself freaking lucky that day 🤪 (also thanks to The Thought Emporium and Applied Science which i already subbed back then, had they not like and comment this vid, it probably won't even appear in my up next column🤣)

[@brendanbush2174]

Watching people temper chocolate, but on a chemistry channel... Nice

[@jovanyleal8549]

Great video!! You’ve got a new subscriber!

[@TechIngredients]

Thanks!

[@mccc4559]

There is so much to say, but I better go and order my KILOS. Sweet video Sir....very interesting....I kept saying wow, wow, wow....suddenly the credit card appeared..... time to try this..... must make giant props from chocolate...instead of carbon fiber.....🤔😉😎

[@jlucasound]

You are so awesome.

[@cndbrn7975]

That's the shiniest sugar & chocolate I've seen. It would be awesome if you could put a hologram image onto them.

[@puddingpimp]

Awesome technique! I've seen this done with PDMS before but not candy! I can't help but think the result would be improved if you were to replicate a flat onto the backside of the sugar glass; if you could find a way to degas the sugar the result would be pretty hard to distinguish from a commercial transmissive grating.

[@melk33]

Cant argue with this guy

[@ghhg-je8wv]

You sir, are a cool one! can't wait to mess around with this! if you wanted to try and pour the chocolate onto a larger sheet, could you possibly use a larger amount (amusing you'll loose some to the inside of the melting reception) and have a top plate to squeeze out a wider shape as it quickly cools? I figure that would work better than the gravity method as well. I ask because I get the feeling you had a quite a few iteration on this experiment ;) Thanks again for the captivating science!

[@TechIngredients]

Not that many iterations, but the results kept mysteriously disappearing. The dipping technique was by far the best and easiest. If you wanted very large sheets I would melt the chocolate in a much larger pan. The movement is the trick and there is no waste, you can remelt and temper as many times as you want with whats left.

[@tamasmihaly1]

It's concerning that you know how to do everything so well. Your wife must have an interesting life living with you. You don't seem boring.

[@BrendaEM]

Fun video! If need be, I imagine that you could vacuum degass the candy before pouring. As you likely know, even old take out gratings from interferometers/spectrometers are expensive on ebay. I guess that one could be be cast from reproduction films, using epoxy if it could be released, or even silicone. In the case of epoxy, carbon fiber could be laid up to back it, which is pretty stiff and temperature stable. A layer of veil added first would keep the weave from printing-through. Perhaps a layer of flexible grating could bonded to a substrate to make a mould by vacuum-bagging it down, while the adhesive dries, then a copy could be made from the top. I will not try to make a ruling engine... I will not try to make a ruling engine.... But I have a linear ways from a wafer inspection microscope that .001mm sitting in the garage : ( It's okay. I have no z-axis. Phew!

[@HowToOverthink]

Been really enjoying your video so far. By the way shellac doesn't come from the exoskeleton of the Lac bug but rather an excretion from the bug.

[@LenKusov]

I don't know how well it works for sugar or chocolate but I know for plastics and foils and such, the easy, reliable, FAST way to make diffraction gratings or holographic patterns is to emboss them from a negative, silvering the plastic like a mirror and then bulking up the thin silver via electroplating (or just smearing it with solder paste and sticking it in the oven). That's how the plastic diffraction film's usually made in the first place, as well as the holographs on things like drivers' licenses or "do not remove" warranty stickers, which if you can get the layers to separate and expose the embossed side can be copied near-losslessly the same way just like the diffraction film and is usually how the better fake IDs get their holographs.