"Carbon snakes" - what physico-chemical process causes the exothermic response? Making a "carbon snake" requires the mixing of strong sulphuric acid with sugar, as explained in this about.chemistry webpage - the reaction causes rapid dehydration of the sugar and produces steam in the process, which expands and forms the 'carbon snake', following the incomplete chemical reaction:

$\ce{C12H22O11 + H2SO4 → 12C + 11H2O}$  + mixture of excess unreacted water, sulfur dioxide and acid (and presumably a bundle of other chemicals)

My question is, what physical/chemical processes cause this rapid dehydration and exothermic reaction?
$\ce{C_mH_{2n}O_n -&gt; m C + n H2O}$

The hydration reaction of sulfuric acid acts as the driving force because it is highly exothermic (95.33 kJ/mol H2SO4).