I think it’s pretty sad to jump to the conclusion that the parents harmed the girl. There’s scant evidence here to conclude they aren’t just as likely caring parents traumatized by here injury.
Give me $5 and an hour and I could easily tamper with a piece of candy and give it a nasty exothermic reaction. No, I’m not going to tell you how to do it, there are idiots about.
I alsways heard it “if you see hoof prints”. But anyway, I don’t think they teach doctors to assume their patients are lying. 
This isn’t the stuff of aliens dude. Turn down the skepto-generator. They are looking into it and hopefully someone in the police department is as worldly as you. 
And we are not supposed to discuss the hows of illegal procedures as board policy. I think that it is not impossible that this was foul play (a sabotaged jawbreaker). Specifics aside, even a rudimentary high school level knowledge of chemistry could illuminate which chemicals go boom under certain conditions. A college level chemist should have no problem creating a little mini-bomb, and MacGuyver could do it for sure. The question, to me, is who spiked the Jawbreaker. I think telling people exactly how or with what specific chemicals were used would just encourage copycats. I can’t find anything in the ingredients that should be combustable without tamporing.
To see how Jawbusters (Jawbreaker is the generic term any candy company can use - Jawbusters is the trademarked product that most of us would know from childhood) go here.
DaLovin’ Dj
are made
I seem to recall that sugar will liquify if it’s hot enough. Of course I stand ready to be called an idiot if I’m wrong.
Sugar. Even a small piece of candy represents a large amount of fuel - though as you suggest it does require something to begin the ignition.
The child looks to be old enough to tell the police if it was the jawbreaker or not. Zebras indeed.
Exploding candy does seem more than a little bizarre. The photo looks (and IANADr) that her face was burned from a point around 6 inches from her face. Plus, she can still talk, so the inside of her mouth seems to OK. I think we can safely say that the explosion occured well outside her mouth.
I don’t know what happened, but an exploding firecracker is a lot more likely that exploding confectionery. And someone (the girl, a family member, a third party) came up with the perfect alibi.
Yes, but before ACCEPTING any conclusion, even those out-of-the-ordinary possible causes must be investigated. This doesn’t seem to be the standard, ordinary, run of the mill jawbreaker. The article mentions a liquid center, not a solid center like most jawbreakers. It also called it a “large” jawbreaker. What do we know about the case? Is it possibly one of these? Notice the warning on the page which mandates express shipping in hot weather. If a candy had a liquid center and heated up, an explosion is possible. Hot gooey liquid splashing on arms and face would cause exactly the type of burn patterns I saw on the pictures.
Child abuse allegations are extremely serious and should not be leveled as a first resort, only as a last resort. Even being accused of such a thing can seriously damage a family.
Enjoy,
Steven
It’s terrorists. We were warned last week that “the real battle has not started yet. Prepare yourself for the punishment for your crimes,” from here.
I’m inclined to believe it was the jawbreaker. The article states that it exploded while in her hand enroute to her mouth. Certainly the attending physician at the ER would have collected bits of molten sugar mass from her face. The article is short on those details, but the jawbreaker is unquestionable (by the local police there) what caused those burns. A sample was collect and sent, yet most of the thing was left in the yard, that make me wonder if that sample came from the young lady’s face or clothing. Those burns do look like some sort of hot viscous liquid was involved. I know from my days of make solid rocket fuel out of sugar that sugar has a pretty high heat capacity. It’s possible some experimentation with jawbreakers in the microwave might have occured.
That’s funny NotMrKnowItAll I have a spare microwave here at work, I was just thinking of performing an experiment. But I don’t have any Jawbreakers or any other kind of candy for that matter.
M&M’s in a microwave = BIG FUN!
Enjoy,
Steven
NotMrKnowItAll beat me to it. I’m wondering if this was a case of “let’s see what happens when we put Mr. Jawbreaker in the microwave”. Because it is Florida, I suppose the hot sun hypothesis is not totally out of the question, if the jawbreaker was stored for a while in a hot car in the sun.
I hope this claim does not appear on your CV. 
Skepticism is good.
That the child or other children were playing/experimenting with something that backfired (the microwave is an interesting theory - anybody checked to see that the family’s hamster is OK?) seems far more likely than a grievous manufacturing failure or the existence of a Unajawbreaker preparing mini-bombs under the guise of candy. But we shall see.
I think Bosda smells a product liability lawsuit. And he may be right.
A one pound jawbreaker?
Who the fuck could fit this in their mouth, and how long would it take to finish? Maybe i should take one as a gift for Ann Coulter when i go see her speak next week.
Heh, at eleven bucks and some change EACH, I won’t be getting any of these any time soon. I can’t imagine how large it would have to be, but they are notoriously dense candies, so the weight would probably scale up fairly fast. Fist sized is my guess. I know a couple of people who can put their fist in their mouths. [sub]Even more who can fit a foot in there[/sub]
Enjoy,
Steven
I bet she had Pop Rocks and Coke. I mean, look what that did to Mikey!
Darn I was going to ask if a Jawbreaker melts from the inside when microwaved, molten sugar in a crisp candy shell. Would the outer layers be cool enough to touch if microwaved?
OK. Who has got an expendable microwave, a big jaw breaker, lots of heat proof protective clothing, and enough gumption to keep themselves from getting burnt (but not enough to avoid doing this test completely)?
I saw the girl and her father interviewed on our local news a few days ago.
The girl recounted her story–she had the jawbreaker in her hand and was about to bite into it when it went "pop"and burned her face and arm. She then went on to say that it hurt really bad but now she was all better.
Cut to her father who looked like he was about to cry. He talked about the treatment for her injuries and then said something about her being scarred for life, despite the fact that she thinks she is “all better”.
It was really sad. 
I find it pretty easy to believe that the jawbreaker did explode, if it was one of those huge ones with a liquid center. What I do find hard to believe is the fact that the other half of the jawbreaker is still lying in the yard a week later! Did no one think it might be useful in the investigation?