Supplies:
- Balloon
- Bottle
- 1/4 cup vinegar & water mix (half & half)
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- Funnel
Put water & vinegar mix in the bottle. Note – water & vinegar mixed together but no change – it looks the same.
Use the funnel to put the baking soda into the balloon. I used a paper slushy cup since both of my funnels are in the sand box or water table….
Without allowing baking soda to get into the bottle, stretch the open end of the balloon over the neck of the bottle and pull down so it is tight.
Predict: What do you think will happen to the balloon when the baking soda falls into the vinegar in the bottom of the bottle?
Well I didn’t take a picture of what happens next so you’ll have to decide. Just kidding, Brett did the experiment himself last night so he will demonstrate: The vinegar mixes with the baking soda to create a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide gas. (To simplify for preschoolers – the water & vinegar changes when the baking soda is added. It makes a gas.) This gas is what blows up the balloon.
Brett asked the same question we had: if we use more water/vinegar, will the balloon blow up more?
YES! But the water & vinegar wets the baking soda inside the balloon so it clumps up inside as the solution overflows the bottle.
Then Brett just played with the ingredients and that’s fun too.
I loved that Brett could do this on his own. It was after dinner and he needed something constructive to do.
Activity included in Mother Goose Time curriculum for June 2011/Meet Me at the Pond.