I have seen this blowing up a balloon experiment done as a classroom or home kitchen chemistry experiment. It would also be a or wonderful science fair project. To make it meet the guidelines for science fair projects you need to add some variables to it. After reading about ways to add challenges to this experiment in Asia Cistro’s new book calledThe Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-On Activities for Ages 4-8, I came up with some variables we could try at home.
Wait! Didn’t I say this is one of those experiments that would be great for science fair projects. Yes, I did. We don’t have a science fair at our school until the spring. It made sense for us to start this now and see if we wanted to do it for the fair later on.
Asia suggested adding differing amounts of baking soda to vinegar to get the balloon to blow up. We decided to try varying them and added a few more variables. We also used different sized bottles and different sized balloons.
This gave us a number of variables and some constants. The constant was that the same proportion of vinegar to baking soda were used.
What were were testing? Our hypothesis was that the smallest bottle with the most baking soda would blow up the fastest.
What happened? The small balloon on the small bottle did inflate quickly. We did not find that it inflated a lot faster than the other balloons on the larger containers.
After adding the vinegar to the balloon with a funnel and adding the baking powder, they all seemed to miraculously inflated quickly.
I confess that we didn’t use a timer to keep track of how fast it inflated. If this were a true set of science fair projects, we would have to time it.
Hints:
It took a long time for the baking soda to leave the funnel and enter the balloon. Using a small amount helped keep my son interested in the process.
Actually I think we got too caught up in the chemical reaction created by the vinegar and baking soda. If you do this as a science fair project, you may want to give your children time to this experiment and react to it. Then you can change the variables and keep track of the inflation time.
Ingredients for Our Science Fair Projects:
- baking soda
- balloons
- vinegar
- bottles of various sizes
- measuring spoons
- small funnel
If your children like to experiment and complete science challenges, you will want to have your own copy of The Curious Kid’s Science Book. It contains over 100 activities for kids 4-8. I personally think it would be a great birthday or Christmas present.
I love that many of the experiments walk you through making a guess (hypothesis), things to consider, thoughts on data, and helpful hints. There are also a number of challenges that are open ended. They share what you will need and hints, but leave the rest up the the experimenters.
Here is a little about the book’s author Asia Citro:
Asia Citro has an M.Ed in Science Education and was a classroom science teacher. She has used that knowledge and experience to bring creative ideas and activities to parents and teachers around the world.
I first discovered Asia’s wonderful experiments and fun ways to play on her blog Fun at Home with Kids blog. I was blessed to get to review Asia’s first book,150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids: The Very Best and Easiest Playtime Activities from FunAtHomeWithKids.com! and am equally blessed to get to review her new book.
You can find more science experiments from this blog and others on my Early Learning- Science Pinterest board.
