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.
We tipped the bicarb. into the vinegar
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!
The balloons started small.
We all discussed what was happening.
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!
We poured…
and we watched…
….we shook…
It foamed and fizzed over!
The effervescent tablets made our potions expand and overflow.
Some mixtures went orange.
We used beakers and test tubes and droppers and pipettes.
Some potions didn’t mix well.
Some potions fizzed up and over quickly.
Some potions were foamy and smelled nice.
Some reactions took us by surprise!
Isaac was really curious about the mixtures and spent all session exploring different reactions.
The tablets fizzed in our wet hands – they tickled!
Alfie was the first to realise exactly what caused the fizzing over – the bubble bath, carbonated water and tablet.
Olivia’s potion made lovely big bubbles that would pop.
Eilidh used pipettes to measure out ingredients and also to mix them.
Why not have a look at our log books to see what we said about our potions.
It was so interesting we decided to try it again another day!
Again some potions didn’t mix – this time we noted it was the ones with oil in.
Our potions came out more bubbly this time.
We helped each other pour out our ingredients. We had to use strong finger muscles and coordination to do this. (This will help us get ready to write!)
We remembered the things we learned about the mixtures from the last time and we used that to make things happen as we wanted.
We were able to apply our learning from the previous time to this new experiment and were able to predict the results much more successfully.
Why not try some mad mixing at home? Any kitchen ingredients can make some crazy potions (and smells)!
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Could we recreate the reaction with other materials?
