Science Smarts: Fizzling Christmas Trees

By PATTY ROOKS on December 3, 2021.

sA the holiday season approaches, we get quite busy and it is often difficult to find quick and easy activities to keep our young scientists busy. This week, I came up with a twist on an old favorite that is sure to please all of my young scientists out there – this could also be used as a great homemade gift for all of our loved ones.

Let’s get started!

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Baking soda

• Vinegar

• One or two pieces of cardstock

• Tape

• Scissors

• Food colouring (optional)

• Mixing bowl

• Spoon

• Measuring cups

• Water

• Spray bottle with water

• Glitter

Fragrance or essential oils (optional)

• Bowl or plate

• Pipette or medicine dropper

Procedure

• Take the cardstock and roll it into cone shapes. Make as many molds as you want.

• In a mixing bowl, measure 750 mL (three cups) of baking soda.

• Add a few drops off food colouring if you are using it and stir it well to ensure you will have an even coloured tree!

• If you are using, add a few drops of your favorite fragrance oil.

• Mix in glitter.

• This is the tricky part as you do not want your mixture to get too wet. Gently spritz your baking soda mixture a couple of times, STOP and mix well.

• After each spritz and mix, squeeze the mixture between your hands. You want it to form a nice ball and hold together. This means your trees will shape up really well.

• Once you have the desired consistency, pack the mixture TIGHTLY into your molds.

• Set aside and allow them to dry and form a beautiful Christmas tree.

Note: if you want to speed up the process of molding them, I sneak them into the freezer for a few hours until they are firm.

Now the science fun!

• Place your “Christmas” tree in a bowl, or on a plate.

• Using the pipette, add a few drops of vinegar.

• Observe.

• What happens?

What is going on?

If you did not know, you are using chemicals in this experiment. Baking soda is also known as sodium bicarbonate with a chemical formula of NAHCO3 and acetic acid is known as vinegar with a chemical formula of CH3COOH. When you mix the acid (vinegar) with a base (baking soda) a chemical reaction occurs and you are able to see this! Those tiny bubbles that are fizzing around are actually carbon dioxide gas being released. Who knew science could be so much fun!!

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. We are located at #12 826 11 Street S. E., Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403.527.5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca

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