CHARLOTTE, N.C. — What's better than making New Year's Day fireworks with the kids at home!? Especially in a way that's much easier to clean up...
Note: While the individual items here are safe, we don't encourage anyone - including children - to eat or drink this mixture.
This experiment is a twist on the typical baking soda and vinegar reactions that kids have loved for decades. It's also really easy to do at home because all the ingredients are things you may already have:
- Plastic cups
- Glass bowl or pan
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Glitter
- Food coloring
The idea behind the food coloring and glitter is to have the gorgeous colors and "fireworks!"
Step 1: Place your glass pan on a level surface. I would make sure too that your pan has edges so the fireworks don't seep over somewhere you don't want them!
Step 2: Add food coloring and glitter. Sarah and I doused the bottom of the pan with colors and then sprinkled enough glitter to cover the bottom. The idea here is the more the merrier because you can add more vinegar later and have a second reaction to keep the kiddos attention.
Step 3: Cover the bottom of the pan with baking soda.
Step 4: Add vinegar! You can do this a multitude of ways with a plastic cup (like me), a spoon, or even a dropper. I think the cup was easy since most people have them lying around.
Step 5: Watch the magic happen!
Let's talk science: the reaction between baking soda and vinegar
In simplest terms, the reaction is known as an 'Acid-Base' reaction: baking soda as the base, vinegar as the acid. Vinegar isn't just an acid, but an acid in water. They basically trade atoms and eventually leads to carbon dioxide escaping, causing the bubbles and gases!
In more complex terms from UCSB Science Line, baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. This means each molecule of baking soda contains a sodium atom, a hydrogen atom, an oxygen atom, and a carbon dioxide molecule.
Vinegar contains acetic acid (which contains a hydrogen atom in each molecule) and an acetate ion.
When combined, the hydrogen atom in the acetic acid matches with the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the baking soda to form a molecule of water. Meanwhile, the acetate ion meets with the sodium atom and forms a salt (sodium acetate). With the carbon dioxide molecule free of its chemical bonds, it can escape - causing the bubbles as it becomes a gas!
Contact Brittany Van Voorhees at bvanvoorhe@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.