Praxis: Snowman science with vinegar

By Patty Rooks on November 23, 2019.

praxis@praxismh.ca@PraxisMedHat

As I sit down to write the column this week, inspiration is falling outside. What a beautiful gentle snow falling to the ground this morning. It makes me appreciate the small but beautiful things in life today. With all of this snow outside, I hope you are able to get out and make a snowman! If not, here is a little snowman science for you. Let’s get started!

*Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

– measuring cup

– baking soda

– hair conditioner

– vinegar

– pipette or medicine dropper

– plate

– bowl

– spoon for stirring

– cup

– snowman decorations (optional)

Procedure

1. Measure 750 mL (three cups) of baking soda and pour it into the bowl.

2. Add 125 mL (1/2 cup) of hair conditioner.

3. Stir well, or get in there with your hands!

4. Mix this up until it forms a nice ball. Note: you may have to add a bit more conditioner, BUT you do not want a soupy mess, you want to be able to form nice compact round balls.

5. Divide the mixture up and make a snowman or two!

6. Place the snowman on the plate.

7. Decorate with a small orange nose some black dots for eyes if you wish.

8. Pour a little bit of vinegar into a cup and fill your pipette to the top.

9. Add a few drops of vinegar to your snowman.

10. Observe.

11. What happens?

12. Add more vinegar to your snowman. This can go on for as long as you want or until the snowman is melted!

What is going on?

In this simple experiment you learned about chemistry! Vinegar is an acid (acetic acid) and baking soda is a base (sodium bicarbonate). When you add an acid to a base, a chemical reaction occurs.

If you want to dive a bit more into the chemistry of this; this is what happens. When you add the acid to the base, hydrogen ions in the acid react with the sodium and bicarbonate ions in the base. As a result of this INITIAL reaction, there are two new chemicals formed; carbonic acid and sodium acetate.

Patty Rooks, Senior Scientific Consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community”. Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. Address: #12 826 11 Street S. E., Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403-527-5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.

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