You probably have realized by now that the course team has a serious chocolate addiction. But in all fairness, chocolate as a material, is like metals easily meltable, and does so at reasonable temperatures. It can, therefore, easily be used to safely simulate the casting process in metals, without having to worry about high temperatures and setting the kitchen on fire.

As always, you can easily repeat this experiment at home. Do be careful though: even though melted chocolate does not reach the temperatures of melted steel, it will still be hot and cause burns.

Materials:

• A package of chocolate chips for cooking, cooking chocolate or candy melts
• A mold for small chocolates or silicone ice cube tray
• A chocolate melting pot suitable for use in a microwave, or if not available, a pan of warm water (do not let it boil) on a stove with a metal bowl over it to melt the chocolate
• Access to a microwave or a stove
• Oven gloves
• Optional: gummy bear or peanut

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in small bursts or au Bain Marie in a bowl over a pan of warm water as described on the pack. Keep stirring in between.
2. When the chocolate is liquid enough to pour, pour it into the mold, holding the bowl or pot with oven gloves to avoid burning yourself. If you want to model inserts, put a gummy bear or peanut inside.
3. Tap the mold to get rid of any air bubbles.
4. Leave to cool on the side (or if you cannot wait, put it in the fridge) until set and pop them out of the mold.

Analysis:

If you look carefully you will see all sorts of manufacturing imperfections. Enjoy the making (and the eating of course) and do let us know how it goes!