It is surprisingly easy to make your own fuel gel. All you really need are three ingredients: eggshells, vinegar and alcohol. Gel fuels like sterno, are useful because they provide a clean burning flame with minimal risk of spilling the fuel. Making a gel fuel requires encapsulating a combustible liquid inside a gelatinous solid. In this case, I make the gel by first creating a solution of calcium acetate, the primary biproduct of the reaction between the calcium carbonate in eggshells and the acetic acid in vinegar. Boiling the liquid concentrates the calcium acetate, which is really soluble in water, but much less soluble in alcohols. So when the alcohol fuel is added, it immediately causes the calcium acetate to precipitate out as a solid, trapping the alcohol in the process, and forming a colorless gel that works really well for toasting marshmallows! #c#chemistrychemteacherphil #learnontiktok