More Fun with Chemical Reactions!

Today we had even more fun with carbon dioxide gas! First, we used CO2 to make spaghetti dance! It's hard to see here, but that's a mixture of water, baking soda, and vinegar that creates CO2 bubbles. The bubbles attach to the spaghetti and lift it up the container. As the bubbles pop, the spaghetti sinks back down into the water. You can add moth balls colored like eyeballs and red food coloring for a fun Halloween display!





Next, we used carbon dioxide gas to put out fire. I placed several, different height candles in a fish tank, and filled the bottom with vinegar.


Then, I lit the candles. If you try this at home, make sure there is an adult around, since you're working with fire!


Next, I sprinkled baking soda into the fish tank, a little bit at a time, making sure not to get any on the candles.


As the carbon dioxide was created, it pushed the oxygen out of the tank, causing the flames to go out. This works because carbon dioxide is more dense than air and so it doesn't mix right away.


Finally, we saw what happens when you put a pack of Mentos candy into a bottle of soda. The carbon dioxide in the soda rushes to the candy and erupts from the opening of the bottle! Mrs. Hartless tried this earlier this week with regular Coke, but because of the sugar making the Coke more dense than the Diet Pepsi, it didn't explode nearly as high as ours did! Next week, we'll try this again with other types of soda to see if we have different reactions!


-- Post From My iPhone