Introduction to Baking Soda and Vinegar
This experiment is the first in our series on the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar.
This experiment will introduce your children to the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar. They may not be able to completely understand what a chemical reaction is, but they will come to learn that this experiment will produce the same outcome each and every time it is performed.
Vocabulary:
Chemical reaction
Baking soda
Vinegar
Mix
Bubbles
Materials: One small cup per child, spoons, droppers, baking soda, vinegar
Procedure:
1. Introduce this experiment by reading Gus and Grandpa and Show-and-Tell
2. At a table, give each child a small cup containing baking soda. Have the children use their dropper or spoon to pour vinegar into the cup.
Questions to ask:
- What happened when you mixed the baking soda and vinegar?
- Did everyone create the same amount of bubbles?
- How do you think you can make more bubbles?
3. Rinse out the cups and allow the children to try the experiment again, this time testing their ideas on how they can create more bubbles.
More questions:
- Were you able to create more bubbles?
- What did you do to create more bubbles?
4. Close this activity by asking the children what they think will happen if they mixed baking soda and vinegar again. Do they think they will always get the same result, will there always be bubbles.
The children will come to understand that this is a predictable outcome. Every time they mix baking soda and vinegar they will get the same result.
Extension:
You can expand upon this lesson by repeating the experiment with baking soda and water. First, question the children about what they think the outcome will be. Allow them to test their hypotheses and discuss the difference in the outcomes.