Cotton candy

Cotton candy is a confection made by heating sugar until it melts, then spinning it into fine strands that collect as a fluffy mass.

Centrifugal force: The apparent outward force experienced in a rotating reference frame. The spinning head drives molten sugar outward through small openings.
Amorphous solid: A solid whose particles lack the long-range repeating order found in crystals. Cotton candy’s strands are disordered sugar glass, not tiny sugar crystals.
Spun sugar: A confection made by drawing hot sugar into fine threads and shaping them into decorative forms. Cotton candy is a simple, airy form of the older spun-sugar craft.
Cotton candy machine: A heated spinning device that melts sugar and extrudes it as fine strands. Its rotating head and heating element produce the confection’s characteristic fibers.
Fairy floss: The name used for cotton candy in Australia and some other English-speaking regions. The original machine-made version was sold under this name at the 1904 fair.
Vitrification: The transformation of a material into an amorphous, glass-like solid without crystallizing. Sugar strands cool into a brittle glass before they can form crystals.
Glass transition: The temperature range where an amorphous material changes between hard, brittle behavior and softer, mobile behavior. Cooling sugar below this range leaves the strands rigid and brittle.
Morrison and Wharton cotton candy machine: A motorized machine for spinning melted sugar, patented by William Morrison and John C. Wharton in 1899. Their machine made spun sugar fast and accessible enough for mass sales.
Food coloring: A dye or pigment added to food to change or standardize its color. Coloring is commonly mixed with the sugar before it is spun.
Candy floss: The common British and Irish name for cotton candy. Regional naming distinguishes the same confection across English-speaking cultures.

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CandyBroader topic: It turns a small amount of sugar into a voluminous, rapidly dissolving treat.