vinegar

Snow Reaction in A Bag Science Experiment

January 19, 2017 by Ashley Mullen

Who knew that putting snow in a bag could make for a fun science experiment and give such a snow reaction. This is a great winter only kind of activity you definitely should try this winter.

Looking for something to do on a really cold day? How about grabbing a ziploc bag and some snow for a science experiment. It really simple. All you need is a ziploc bag, some snow, and an alka seltzer or two. If you bought some to make the lava lamps then you probably still have some on hand.

Snow Reaction in A Bag Science Experiment

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Now if you are like me, you don’t want to go outside in the freezing -42C windchill, even if it is just to fill a bag with some snow. That’s why we have kids though right? To make them do it.

I did draw a snowman face on our Ziploc bag, just to make it cuter. Fill it up with snow, but don’t pack it in tight, just fill it loosely. Before you seal the bag, add in a few alka seltzer.

I laid a thick towel over my table, just incase it exploded on us.

We watched it inflate over a period of about an hour. It slowly expanded as the snow melted and caused a reaction with the Alka Seltzer.

Alka-Seltzer is made of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which is a base. When the tablets are dry, the acid and base powders don’t mix, but as soon as they are immersed in water they mix and react to form carbon dioxide gas.

The same type of reaction is made when you are baking and you mix baking soda and vinegar together.

You can see just how much it expanded here:

After an hour, my kids stopped caring so we stopped. There was still one out of four tablets that wasn’t gone, so it would have continued as the snow melted. They gave it a solid hour which is pretty good.

While we had this going we watched an episode of Magic School Bus – season 1 episode 13 – Kicks Up a Storm. You can also find great science kits that dig deep into the science of weather if your kids are interested.

Bouncy Egg Experiment – Eggs in Vinegar

August 25, 2016 by Ashley Mullen

Science can be a lot of fun. Making a bouncy egg is fun, especially since we all have experienced what happens when you drop an egg on the floor and what kind of mess that makes, but what if it didn’t make a huge mess? What if instead it bounced back. We always enjoy science experiments in our homeschool and the learning that comes from them.

Bouncy Egg Experiment

*This post may contain affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure policy.*

What you need:

jars
vinegar
water
raw eggs

How to make a Bouncy Egg:

In our original experiment, we put an egg in a jar of vinegar – on the left, and an egg in a jar of water – on the right. My girls noticed the bubbles around the vinegar egg. We used small jars so that we could screw the lids on tight to avoid a smell. Then we put them on the counter and waited. And waited. And then to our disappointment forgot.

What Happens When You Forget

Everything I read said to leave them for 72 hours. We left ours for at least 100. Yes, much longer. But we held out hope. Hope that it was still going to work, that there was going to be a bounce.

We took our vinegar egg out. It was bigger than the regular (water) egg. And missing a crucial part of an egg – the shell. We had a naked egg.

Holding the egg seemed quite odd, it was like a rubber egg, and tougher than it seemed. We all handled it, and it didn’t break. It did however fail the bounce test. My kids had a good laugh at it, and then we checked out of the membrane.

What Happens When You Remember

I redid the experiment with much better results. I set an alarm on my phone this time, labeled it so I would know why it was going off.

When left in the vinegar for only 72 hours you had to rub then rinse the shell off of it. I used a slow flow of water, just in case.

We all handled this egg as well, and it didn’t break. And then came the bounce test. It worked! It worked, I bounced it a number of times, before it broke.

Make a Bouncy Egg

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 1 days

Total Time: 1 days 5 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Did you know you can make an egg bounce?? You can with just vinegar.

Materials

vinegar
water
raw eggs

Tools

Mason jars

Instructions

Place your egg in a jar and fill with vinegar to cover the egg.
When left in the vinegar for only 72 hours, you simply rub then rinse the shell off of it the egg membrane. I used a slow flow of water, just in case.
Now you get to test it out with a bounce.

I figured out how to use my camera for video just so you could how it bounces:

Have you tried this yet?

Baking Soda Bubbles

June 27, 2014 by Ashley Mullen

All children should know the wonders that can be found in your cupboard. There are so many “magic” ingredients hiding there in plain sight. Like vinegar and baking soda. And food color too, but their optional.

What you need:

Take a baking pan, or a bowl, or a pot, something with sides to hold it all in
a box of baking soda, the bigger the better
vinegar
food color
a cloth to wipe up spills
small bowl(s)
droppers or spoons

Cover the bottom of the pan with baking soda, a thick layer.

[Read more…] about Baking Soda Bubbles

Science Experiment with Lemon Juice & Vinegar

June 8, 2012 by Ashley Mullen

Yesterday at our local dollar store I saw some test tubes (they are suppose to be for doing shots) and I thought of the possibilities for us to have some messy fun. For our first science experiment we started simple. Baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and cream of tarter in the test tubes, and vinegar and lemon juice in squeeze bottles.

vinegar

Snow Reaction in A Bag Science Experiment

Snow Reaction in A Bag Science Experiment

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Bouncy Egg Experiment – Eggs in Vinegar