Baking+Soda+and+Vinegar+Rocket

=Making a Baking Soda and Vinegar Rocket =

You need: 1. A film canister or water bottle 2. Baking soda 3. Vinegar 4. Toilet paper 5. Safety glasses



First clean out the bottle you will be using with water. Once the bottle is clean fill it half full with vinegar. Before combining the baking soda and vinegar make sure you are wearing your safety glasses. Pour some baking soda on a few squares of toilet paper and roll the toilet paper like a burrito. Drop the toilet paper in to the bottle and screw the cap on the bottle. Shake the bottle for approxamatly 30 seconds, and then throw it on a hard sufrace like concrete and watch it take off! Play around with the amounts of baking soda and vinegar you use to find out what will give you the best reaction. Feel free to decorate your rocket! If you get bored with that, you can try putting a balloon over the top of a water bottle instead of capping it. The balloon will inflate with carbon dioxide that is given off during the reaction.

__Watch it before you try it! __ media type="youtube" key="qlC5T_EHsds?fs=1" height="385" width="480" 

=The Science Behind the Rocket experiment=

Baking soda has a chemical name: sodium bicarbonate, and the chemical formula:

NaHCO3

When dissolved in water baking soda separates into sodium (Na+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3- ):

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">NaHCO3 ---> Na+(aq) + HCO3-(aq)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Vinegar, a weak (5%) solution of acetic acid in water, partially dissociates into hydrogen ( H+) and acetate ions (CH3COO-):

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">CH3COOH <--> H+(aq) + CH3COO-(aq)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The reaction between baking soda and vinegar is actually two reactions, an acid base reaction followed by a decomposition reaction. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When the two ingredients are mixed, hydrogen ions ( H+) from the vinegar react with the bicarbonate ions (HCO3- ) from the baking soda to form a new chemical called carbonic acid (H2CO3).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">H+ + HCO3- ---> H2CO3

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The carbonic acid thus formed then immediately decomposes into carbon dioxide gas (CO2)and water (H2O).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">H2CO3 ---> H2O + CO2

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It's this carbon dioxide gas that you see bubbling and foaming as soon as you mix baking soda and vinegar together. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The overall reaction however, is often written as follows:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">NaHCO3 (aq) + CH3COOH (aq) > CO2 (g) + H2O (l) + CH3COONa (aq)

=Using this Experiment to Teach Science= <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The baking soda and vinegar experiment can be used to teach so many different fun science lessons, but here are a few good lesson ideas. Discuss the properties of gases, liquids, and solids. Use the experiment to demonstrate that chemicals can combine and change forms in a reaction. Point out how the two chemicals in the experiment, a liquid and a solid, combine to give off a gas.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">You can also teach about different types of reactions. The baking soda and vinegar reaction is a chemical reaction. Whereas mixing water and food dye is a physical reaction. You can write out the chemical equations for the students so they know what is happening as they watch the experiment.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Citations: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]