Tag Archives: bicarbonate of soda

Learning from Einstein

February 19, 2016 Ailie Rankin Leave a comment

Einstein quote

I saw this as I was eating my breakfast this morning and thought how this totally sums up learning through play. And explains why today we revisited gas.

This morning we looked at gas with the more scientific frame of mind, attempting to create a gas by mixing a liquid and a powder. We caught and measured the gas in the balloons again.

As usual we made and recorded predictions, observations and our thinking about why it happened (training the mind to think!).

Only one person predicted their solution wouldn’t make a gas:

Natalie – “I predict no gas.”

Everyone else predicted lots of gas would be made.

Innes chose a tablet and vinegar and predicted "a big gas" — Innes chose a tablet and vinegar and predicted “a big gas”

Lucy chose to mix a tablet and bubble bath and predicted "a big bit of gas". — Lucy chose to mix a tablet and bubble bath and predicted “a big bit of gas”.

Pearce chose to mix a tablet and vinegar and predicted "lot's of gas". — Pearce chose to mix a tablet and vinegar and predicted “lot’s of gas”.

In fact Sophia and Olivia selected their ingredients based on their past experience with the science. When asked why they had selected bicarbonate of soda and vinegar,

Olivia replied: “Because it’s going to get bigger and explode!”

and Sophia said, “Because I want mine to get ginormous!”

So there were a variety of results depending on the combination chosen.

We had to wotk together to crush the tablets.

We squeezed the balloons to feel the gas.

Olivia pours her bicarbonate of soda from her balloon into the vinegar.

Gabriel was disappointed when his mixture of fizzy water and icing sugar made very little gas.

Patrick was able to set up his expeiment with very little help.

Ryan liked watching the bubbles fizz and make the gas.

Sophia’s mixture made a lot more gas than Isla’s

carbonated water and effervescent vitamin tablet.

“Oh my gosh Sophia! That is soooo big!” – Millie

The most interesting however was the bubble bath + effervescent tablet………

You could see the crushed tablet sink into the bubble bath.

The crushed tablet took a while to mix with the bubble bath so nothing happened for a while.

After a while it mixed and produced a little gas!

Gracie and Bramble were able to apply their previous science learning to their understanding of what had happened…

"We made a potion. It forced up lots and lots of gas and made the balloon bigger and bigger!" - Gracie — “We made a potion. It forced up lots and lots of gas and made the balloon bigger and bigger!” – Gracie

"The balloon goed bigger and bigger 'cause of the experiment gas!"- Bramble — “The balloon goed bigger and bigger ’cause of the experiment gas!”- Bramble

Smart cookies eh?!

For the afternoon session I took to heart another Einstein quote……

So we just freely “researched” compounds and mixtures.

We talked about what was happening and what we wished to add to our mixtures.

We had to use our hand and finger muscles to squeeze the ingredients out of the bottle – this helps us prepare to write!

And the phrases “Oh my gosh!” and “Look at mine!” were heard aplenty when the vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, effervescent tablets and carbonated water began to mix.

We used a huge amount of maths language as we were experimenting – “more” ,”less”, “after”, “next”,” first” ,”higher”, “heavier” ,”lighter” as well as hearning myself model more science vocabulary.

Did you know that the greater a child’s vocabulary before school, the more success they have in school? You can read research suggesting that here and here.

Also did you know that the average person produces gas 14 times a day? (Thought Patrick might like that wee fact!) Why not amuse your family with more fart facts?

I’m sure Einstein would have been very proud!

Don’t forget to share the learning that your child shares at home and leave comments to let me know what you think of the experiments and the blog – especially any ideas or suggestions – Thank you!

chemistry

balloons and gas

February 17, 2016 Ailie Rankin 4 Comments

Today we looked and at and thought about balloons and gas. This was a follow up to Isla’s fab question last time:

“What is gas?”

So we started with our balloon holding bicarbonate of soda on a bottle containing vinegar. We discussed what happened when we mixed these ingredients on Monday.

“The bottle fell over and it just fizzed a bit” – Alf

So the consensus of prediction was that the bottle would fall over.

The balloon inflated however, much to the children’s delight!

“Arrgh! It’s getting bigger! It’s going to explode!!” – Patrick

We squeezed and shook the balloon and bottle and thought about the bubbles (which were made by the gas) and we decided to investigate – could we make a gas?

“Yes!” – Daniel “It’ll be like a bomb and explode!” – Patrick

We had bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, effervescent tablets, carbonated water, bubble bath, conditioners, shaving foam, caster and icing sugars.

We discussed safety as usual:

“Wash hands after.” – Innes “Don’t pop the balloons!” – Alex

“Move if you think it’ll explode!” – Daniel

Again there was disagreement about how long it would take….

“25 hundred” – Daniel “Just a minute or 2” – Patrick

"It'll take THIS long" — “It’ll take THIS long”

We mixed various ingredients and had a variety of results:

“It grew bigger and bigger and exploded like a bomb! It was going EVERYWHERE!” “It was because of the gas” – Patrick

“Look at mine! It’s like lava but it’s not hot!”

In the afternoon I structured it so that we were much more scientifically looking at the gas first. The children could choose what to mix and predict if it would make a gas to inflate the balloon or not.

"It might melt our eyes!" — “It might melt our eyes!”

It fizzed and bubbled out from under the lid.

It was not good, not enough gas” – Finn

"I'm scared it'll blow up" — “I’m scared it’ll blow up”

“It was small”- Belle

“It looks like a rocket” – Isla C.

"It just made a little gas." — “It just made a little gas.”

Sophia gave us the quote of the day………

“I am OBSESSED with all this gas! It’s like a hundred billion! It’s amazing!” “How much gas are you making????”

Our star scientist award has to go to Fraser though. He was one of the first to join the experiment and nearly the last to leave at the end of the morning. He quickly realised which ingredients gave the best fizzy results and experimented with differing amounts in various containers. He really focused on developing his learning about chemical reaction and gas! Well done Fraser!

Why not have a go at some mad mixing at home to create gases and explosions? Any household and kitchen ingredients could combine to make an interesting and possibly smelly concoction! Our fizzy favourites have to be the vinegar+ bicarbonate of soda or the carbonated water + effervescent tablets + bubble bath. Let us know how you get on, share any cool pictures or results.

And remember you can find lots of science ideas on our pinterest page.

Happy experimenting!

chemistry, physics

Rocket fuel and gas

February 15, 2016 Ailie Rankin Leave a comment

Following our success with our air pressure rocket, and Gracie’s suggestion, we decided to make an attempt to create our own rocket fuel to blast a bottle rocket into the air.

The ingredients for the explosion were the usual bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

There were a range of predictions as to what would happen when we mixed the two (The main building children have not yet explored this mixture and so had no prior nursery experience to base these predictions on).

“Yass”[mimes blasting off into the air] “Blast Off!” – Iona

“It might come down,” -Eilidh

“Blast up” – Natalie

“It’s going to blast into space!” – Lauren

The air's going to make it go up! — The air’s going to make it go up!

It's going to fly in the air! — It’s going to fly in the air!

Brandon even wrote his prediction clearly that it would go..

However some of the children showed a great level of awareness and applied it to their prediction (or maybe they could just smell the vinegar soaked into my clothes!

"I think it's going to make mess everywhere!" — “I think it’s going to make mess everywhere!”

“It’ll mess everywhere” -Amy M.

We discussed ways of staying safe (staying well back, only Ailie was to touch the rocket when the bicarbonate of soda was added).

There was a debate about how long it would take to blast off.

“Fast” – Urban “3 minutes”- Lauren

“50 minutes” – James S. “4 minutes”- Amy M.

Well there were a range of results. Most of the attempts in the morning resulted in gentle fizzing and the plug gently popping out. Not exactly the blast we had hoped for.

WE carefully squeezed the vinegar into the rocket bottle.

This one fizzed a lot but still didn’t blast off.

It just fizzed and slowly pushed the plug out.

“When we put the first one down it didn’t blast off, it just went EVERYWHERE!” – Gabi

“It fell over and poured out.” – Urban

However we had a couple of explosions!

“It exploded!” – Eilidh

It went all up Ailie's sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!" — It went all up Ailie’s sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!”

“It exploded like a bomb!” – James

Unfortunately the successful rockets were so fast that we couldn’t get a photograph!

So we reviewed the experiment and came up with some ideas on how to improve….

“We need to fix it!” – Urban

“Make some things that would keep it on.” – Alf

In the end the most successful attempts were made using the plug that the vinegar bottle came with.

So why did it blast off (eventually)?

Well the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda reacted and created a gas. The pressure of the gas expanding in the bottle pushed the plug and gas out of the bottle with great force, pushing the bottle into the air!

Isla – “What is a gas?”

Hmmmmmm

Now there’s a question!

Well we could capture gas in a balloon to let us think about it.

We had to have a wee look at the static electricity generated by the balloon and the effect it has on our hair.

I think we need to have a wee look at balloons and gas next!

Please remember to leave a wee to comment share the learning!

And why not see if you have better luck than I with the rocket? There are various youtube video tutorials telling you how. Let us know how you get on!

Campus, chemistry

Mad Mixing!

January 29, 2016 Ailie Rankin Leave a comment

Inspired by Isla and Amelia’s interest we looked at potion making, chemistry and solutions.

We started of by thinking about what happens when things mix. Most children predicted it would just change colour.

The bottle holds vinegar, the balloon hold bicarbonate of soda.

The chemicals reacted and released a gas! It expanded and made the balloon inflate!

It didn’t just change colour! It created a gas that inflated the balloon. And boy did the balloons inflate!

Millie predicted the balloon would grow to touch the ceiling!

Mason thought the inflating would be multiplied by tipping the vinegar into the balloon. (It didn’t.)

Noemi checked the tension of the balloon by tapping gently with the magnifying glass.

The balloons made different shapes depending on the amounts of soda and vinegar that was mixed.

Some of the mixtures spilled out of the balloons due to the pressure.

The solution that had spilled out felt fizzy on our fingers.

We decided to investigate what made the fizz and the gas. Could we recreate the reaction with other materials?

The mad mixing potions began!

We used a range of household chemicals and substances : conditioner, bubble bath, baby oil, vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, effervescent vitamin tablets, warm water, cold water, carbonated water. And we got a range of results!