Fizz Inflator Science Experiment

This was such a GREAT experiment! We did this one a few days after we launched our canister rockets. Once my kids got started with the experiment and the balloon started to inflate-I had kids thinking the balloon was going to explode.

Again, there are many variations of this all over the Internet. I chose to stick with Science Bob's directions.

What You Will Need:

One small empty plastic soda or water bottle

1/2 cup of vinegar

Small balloon

Baking soda

Funnel or piece of paper 

What You Will Do:
1. Carefully pour the vinegar into the bottle.

2. This is the tricky part: Loosen up the balloon by stretching it a few times and then use the funnel to fill it a bit more than half way with baking soda. If you don't have a funnel you can make one using the paper and some tape.

3. Now carefully put the neck of the balloon all the way over the neck of the bottle without letting any baking soda into the bottle.

4. Ready? Lift the balloon up so that the baking soda falls from the balloon into the bottle

The Science:
The baking soda and the vinegar create an acid base reaction and the two chemicals work together to create a gas, (carbon dioxide). Gasses need a lot of room to spread out and the carbon dioxide starts to fill the bottle, and then moves into the balloon to inflate it.

Questions To Make it an Experiment:
 1. Does water temperature affect how fast the balloon fills up?
2. Does the size of the bottle affect how much the balloon fills?
3. Can the amount the balloon fills-up be controlled by the amount of vinegar or baking soda?

A video (they used 1/4 cup vinegar and if you don't have a funnel they show you how to make one with paper).

            

 
 

Film Canister Rocket Experiment

We did this experiment during our chemical reaction unit. My kids loved it! I saw this experiment in one form or another all over the Internet. The difficult part was trying to find film canisters in our digital age. This is how I came across Science Bob's website. He has a lot of great ideas and sells film canisters!

What You Will Need:

• film canister (35mm, the white canisters work better than the black canisters with the grey lids)
• effervescent tablet (Alka-Seltzer)
• water
• plastic teaspoon
• safety goggles

What You Will Do:

You will want to do this outside. The canister lids can launch pretty high and fast!

1. Break an antacid tablet in half
2. Remove the lid from the film canister and put one teaspoon of water in the canister
3. Drop half the tablet inside the canister and quickly snap the lid back on
4. Quickly place the canister on the ground cap side down and step back...far back
5. About 10 seconds later you will hear a pop and see the canister fly into the air

If the canister does not launch in the air, wait an additional 30 seconds before examining the canister. The lid may have not been put on tightly and gas may have leaked out thus resulting in a longer wait time until the canister is launched into the air.

I had my students work in groups and they took their science notebooks outside. They were to record their observations. After they all did the initial experiment with the half tablet of Alka-Seltzer and one teaspoon of water, I asked my the following questions (I got them from the Science Bob website):

1. How much water will give the quickest launch?
2. How much water in the canister will give the highest launch?
3. Does the size of the Alka-Seltzer tablet affect how long it takes for the canister to launch?
4. Does water temperature affect how fast the rocket launches?

 

In their groups they came up with a hypothesis and went to work. It was great seeing them try out different things and making connections to what we were learning in class. As I roamed around the discussions I heard were awesome!

 

The Science:
As the antacid tablet fizzes, carbon dioxide is released inside the canister. Pressure from the gas builds and eventually pops the lid off. The thrust, or push, of your rocket is related to how much pressure built up inside the canister before the top popped off.

Check out this GREAT video where Science Bob and Jimmey Kimmel launch over 1,000 film canisters!

         

   

 

Elephant Toothpaste Experiment: Chemical Reactions

 

One of my favorite units to teach during the year is our chemical reaction unit. There are so many nifty experiments the students can participate in. It really gets them excited and engaged in the concept. They LOVED the elephant toothpaste experiment. It's an exciting science experiment that allows for great discussions on chemical reactions. You can do this as a demonstration or turn it into a science experiment. I decided that with this experiment, I would do it and my students would observe and discuss in their groups what was happening. I didn't want them handling the hydrogen peroxide (the experiment uses a strong peroxide). Once the foam began to come out of the bottle I  allowed a few students to touch the bottle to feel the warmth created by the chemical reaction that took place in the bottle.

 

What you will need:

• clean 16 ounce plastic bottle
• 1/2 cup 20 volume hydrogen peroxide liquid (20 volume is a 6% solution, you will need to purchase it from a beauty supply store)  Do not use anything higher than a 6% solution either.{It is important to use 6%, the 3% peroxide from the grocery store will NOT work as well}
• 1 tablespoon (one packet) of dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons of warm water
• liquid dish soap
• food coloring
• tray (for easy clean up)
• funnel
• small bowl/cup
• safety goggles

What you will do:

1. Add 5-6 drops of food coloring into the bottle.
2. Add about 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap into the bottle and wish the bottle around to mix it.
3. In a separate small cup/bowl, combine the warm water and the yeast (the yeast will speed up the reaction) together and mix for about 30 seconds.
4. Now pour the yeast water mixture into the bottle (use a funnel) and watch the foaming action begin!
5. Make sure you stand away from the bottle (not directly above it) the foam forms quickly and can shoot quite high out of the bottle.

What's happening?
Hydrogen peroxide naturally breaks down into water and oxygen. Each foam bubble is filled with oxygen. The yeast speeds up the reaction. The yeast acted as catalyst to remove the oxygen from the hydrogen peroxide. Since it did this very fast, it created lots and lots of bubbles.Dish soap catches the oxygen and makes bigger bubbles and the food coloring makes it look cool.  The bottle gets warm because it created a reaction called an exothermic reaction. That means it not only created foam, but it created heat too. The foam produced is just water, soap, and oxygen so you can clean it up with a sponge and pour any liquid left in the bottle down the drain.

Questions for our experiment

In their science journals, my students discussed and answered the following questions:

1. Does the amount of yeast change the amount of foam produced?
2. Does the experiment work as well if you add the dry yeast without mixing it with water?
3. Does the size of the bottle affect the amount of foam produced?

In their groups the students discussed what they thought would happen. Wrote their thoughts in their journals and observed me as we made the changes. It was a lot of fun!

The questions came from  Science Bob. I love his website, lots of fun experiments and he has some great videos on his site. Another great site filled with experiments is Steve Spangler Science.

Check out the video below for an awesome video of the elephant toothpaste in action! Now his elephant toothpaste was done at an extreme level (not to be done at home or in the classroom).

Our foam came out slowly for some reason the first time. Once it slowed way down, I had a couple students feel the bottle to feel the warmth that was created.