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Home Sanity 1
Hi all!
Most of you know me as a writer, but I’m also an equine (horse) veterinarian. After an injury, I thought I’d never practice again, so I went back to university and completed a Graduate Diploma to teach secondary biology and chemistry.
I’m now back practicing veterinary medicine again, but with the onset of COVID-19 home isolation or quarantine, or School Time Out, I wanted to help as many of you as possible to enjoy the extra time you get to spend with your families.
I’ll be posting several times each week on my Lizzi Tremayne website with activities for kids (little and big) and grownups (mostly recipes) during our worldwide time-out. This widespread home isolation hasn’t happened before in the memory of most of the world’s population, so it’s an “open book”! I encourage you to use this time as special time with your families! If you were here with me, I could find fun things to do working around my little farm in New Zealand, but since you’re not, I’ll have to share some activities and a bit of what I’m doing on my farm and in my home during the coming weeks, instead.
I hope you’ll join me.
xx
Lizzi
Explosive Volcanos, Anyone? A fun volcano investigation.
You’ll need:
10 ml dishwashing liquid detergent
100 ml cold water
400 ml white vinegar
Food colouring, (works without it, but you may use it if it’s okay with your caretakers–and use this only where the colour won’t be a problem!)
½ cup baking soda, topped up with water to the top of the cup and mixed to a slurry
Empty, clean soda drink bottle, 2 litre size
Measuring spoon (1 tsp=5 ml, 2 tsp=10 ml) and funnel to fit into drink bottle
Spoon and cup to mix the soda and water
How to make that volcano!
Do this investigation OUTSIDE! It’s messy!
Mix vinegar, water, dishwashing liquid and 2-3 drops of food colouring in the empty soda bottle.
Mix the baking soda and water with a spoon in the cup until it’s mixed into a liquid.
The fun step!
Carefully but quickly pour the baking soda/water slurry through the funnel into the drink bottle and jump back to see the reaction!
What happens?
The Science, or how this happens!
When vinegar and baking soda are mixed in water, a clear gas (therefore invisible to you) called carbon dioxide, or CO2, is formed. We commonly know CO2 as the bubbles in our “carbonated” drinks– what we Kiwis call “lemonade”, “soda”, or “bubbly drinks”!
As the CO2 gas is formed, it wants to expand. Since there’s only a limited amount of space in the bottle, it has to blast out the top! There’s your volcano!
Ever shaken up a bottle of soda then opened it? What happens? Those gas molecules get excited and have to blast out the small opening just like your volcano did!
The more complete reaction is:
NaHCO3 + HC2H3O2 Þ H2O + CO2Ý + NaC2H3O2
Or: NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) + HC2H3O2 (vinegar or acetic acid) reacts to form H2O (water) + CO2 Ý (carbon dioxide) + NaC2H3O2 (sodium acetate).
If you want to understand it better, have a look at this chart explaining the “chemical reaction”:
|
Common name |
Baking soda and water |
+ |
Vinegar |
React to form |
Carbon Dioxide |
+ |
Water |
+ |
Sodium acetate |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chemical name |
Sodium bicarbonate and water |
+ |
Acetic acid |
Þ |
Carbon dioxide |
+ |
Water |
+ |
Sodium acetate |
|
Chemical formula |
NaHCO3 (aq=aqueous) |
+ |
HC2H3O2 (aq) |
Þ |
CO2 (g=gas) |
+ |
H2O (l=liquid) |
+ |
NaC2H3O2 (aq) |
|
What you see |
White powder which makes a slurry in water |
+ |
Clear liquid |
Þ |
Bubbles! |
+ |
Clear liquid |
+ |
Invisible when mixed with water at this concentration. |
Home Sanity Questions for You!
1- Why do you think we used the dishwashing liquid in this investigation? It’s not in the written chemical reaction equation!
2- Why do you think we used the food colouring? It’s not in the written chemical reaction either!
3- What happened when you did the investigation? Was it cool?
Go ahead and comment in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!
Here are a few other similar investigations if you want to try them for fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRMyMIy7U6E
Here’s another volcano that doesn’t use as much baking soda and vinegar and might be easier and more fun for little ones!
https://www.sublimescience.com/free-science-experiments/how-to-make-a-volcano/
Here’s a great one to make out of salt dough. A lot more involved but looks a lot of fun!
https://teachbesideme.com/how-to-make-a-volcano-science-project/
If you’re studying chemistry at school, this video will give you more information on how the reaction itself occurs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StagiUUObUw
Share these Home Sanity posts around with your friends and remember to comment below!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Stay well!
xx
Lizzi