What is the chemical formula of candyfloss?

Answer 1

It's the same as regular sucrose, which is C12H22O11, This takes the form of glucose, which is a six-membered ring composed of five carbon atoms and one oxygen atom, bonded via an ester link (an oxygen atom) to a fructose, which is a five-membered ring composed of four carbon atoms and one oxygen atom. It's way easier to visualise if you look at a diagram, Google "sucrose molecular structure" to find one.

Sucrose is the regular variety of granulated sugar one would stir into tea or coffee, which raises the question - if it has the same molecular structure as candy floss, how come table sugar isn't candy floss?

The answer to this question is to do with crystallisation. Basically, the granules of table sugar you might stir into coffee are crystals, which means that all of the sucrose molecules are arranged side by side in neat little stacks. Candyfloss is an example of what is called "sugar glass", meaning a material formed from sugar with the glass properties. Glass properties - brittle, typically transparent - result from their non-crystalline structure. In other words, in candy floss, the sucrose molecules are not neatly stacked in a crystal but are arranged - or rather, not remotely arranged - in a higgledy piggledy mess.

This is achieved by melting the sucrose in a candy floss machine and then forcing the resulting liquid through tiny little holes. The air on the other side of the holes immediately cools the liquid into a solid without giving the sucrose molecules time to arrange themselves into crystals. Also, the holes are so small that the glass strands created are incredibly thin but can grow to long lengths.

So basically, the chemical formula of candy floss is no different to the chemical structure of table sugar (although small amounts of certain substances may be added to deliberately stop crystallisation from happening). How they differ is in the way the molecules are arranged in relation to one another - neatly ordered in table sugar, higgledy piggledy in candyfloss.

References: McGee on Food and Cooking, Harold McGee