The school year is winding down, and those long summer days are stretching in front of us.
Social media memes have started to gear toward the "in my day we played outside ... " variety, making parents leery of all that time kids spend plugged in. But you know what kids like just as much as watching YouTube videos? Science. Not lame science – but real experiments. It's something that's easy and fun for parents and kids.
Build a fizz inflator
What you'll need:
An empty plastic bottle
½ cup of vinegar
small balloon
baking soda
a funnel or a piece of paper to use in place of funnel
What to do:
1. Pour the vinegar into the bottle
2. Stretch out the neck of the balloon some, then use your funnel or paper to fill the balloon a little more than halfway with baking soda.
3. Take the balloon and place the neck of the balloon all the way over the neck of the bottle — this part is tricky because you have to do it without letting any of the baking soda into the bottle yet. Parents should probably do this part.
4. Hold the balloon up so the baking soda falls from the balloon into the bottle. When it mixes with the vinegar the balloon will be blown up by the fizz.
Why does this happen?
According to UCSB Science Line: Baking soda and vinegar react with each other because of an acid-base reaction. Baking soda is a bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and vinegar is an acetic acid (HCH3COO). One of the products this reaction creates is carbon dioxide.
Prepare yourself for doing this multiple times (because the kids love it), and for a mess. You might want to do this science experiment outside.
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