Kid Science Experiments with stuff in your Kitchen Part I
My now 8 year old son has always had an insatiable interest in Science especially DOING science. His favorite show is the Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel
He’s played around with Helium balloons, built his own rockets and many other things that I’ll try to write about. Anyway, I decided to look around on the net for ideas on experiments with stuff you might find in your Kitchen.
The first experiment we did was Vinegar and Baking Soda:
In the Kitchen sink fill a glass half full with Vinegar and then add a teaspoon of baking soda.
You’ll be amazed at the action!
For those who want to teach their children a little more about what is happening:
The action that is taking place is between Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) and Acetic Acid (the Vinegar).
Chemists would write out the reaction in this way:
HC2H3O2 + NaHCO3 ===> NaC2H3O2 + H2CO3
and
H2CO3 ===> H2O + CO2
Your child doesn’t need to know what all this means. Just explain that the direction of the arrows tell you what is happening.
This is an example of a chemical reaction because a new substance is produced (Carbon Dioxide) which is the bubbles.
Experiment with adding more baking soda until no more bubbling occurs.
Now add more Vinegar and notice that the bubbling starts again.
All chemical reactions take place using certain proportions of each substance. If the proportions are not present, the reactions will not happen.
Congratulate your child on performing their first chemical experiment!
They may also be interested to know that the bubbles they are seeing is the same bubbles they find in a Soda Pop.