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How fast do these kitchen chemicals react?
Your Action Flask Kit Includes
1 Volcano Wrap
Try This at Home
Fun Fact:
Lava comes from inside the earth,
where it's so hot that the rocks have
melted! When the liquid rocks
escape at the surface of the
earth, they spew out and we
see a volcanic eruption of
lava and gas!
1 Erlenmeyer Flask
Lava Laboratory!
Stir up a volcanic eruption!
JELL-O
You Will Need
250
200
150
100
1 Measuring Cup
1 Erlenmeyer Flask
Step 1: Prepare the lava:
a) Add one teaspoon of baking soda
to your flask.
b) Add one teaspoon of gelatin
powder to your flask.
Step 2: Prepare the volcano:
a) Bend the volcano wrap, and fit the
tab into the slit.
b) Tape the tab in place.
c) Place the volcano wrap over your
flask. You just made a Volcano!
d) Place your volcano in the adultapproved experiment area.
Step 1a & 1b
Step 2c
1 Teaspoon
125mL (½ cup) of Vinegar
Step 2a
Step 3a & 3b
Step 2b
150
Directions
2 Pieces of Clear Tape
100
1 Adult-Approved Experiment Area
5mL (1 tsp)
of Baking Soda
250
200
1 Volcano Wrap
a
Baking Sod
5mL (1 tsp) of Gelatin
Powder or Jell-O (red)
50
Step 3c
Step 3: Make the reaction!
a) Pour 60mL (¼ cup) of vinegar into
your flask. What happens?
b) Add another 60mL of vinegar.
c) Shake the flask gently and observe
what happens.
What's Going On?
You created an acid-base reaction when you mixed vinegar (an
acid) and baking soda (a base). This reaction formed carbon
dioxide bubbles, which caused the red lava to erupt from your
volcano. Baking soda reacts immediately with vinegar. Only the
leftover baking soda could react with the second dose of
vinegar. Shaking the flask mixes the vinegar with any remaining
baking soda and may help make more lava.
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2p
Continue Your Explorations
Fun Fact:
Hot Salt!
Chemical reactions in nature can happen very
quickly—the Sea Wasp is a jellyfish whose
poisonous sting can kill you in as little as thirty seconds!
Pick up on an icy trick!
You Will Need
50mL (¼ cup)
of Water
15cm (6") Length of Cotton String
1 Clock or Watch
with a Second Hand
1 Erlenmeyer Flask
5mL (1 tsp) of Salt
Directions
Step 1: Fill the flask to the 50mL
line with water. Place this
in the freezer overnight.
Step 1
Step 2: The next day, wet the
string and lower one
end—touching the ice
surface— into the flask.
Step 3: Hold the other end of the
string so it doesn't fall into
the flask. Sprinkle salt on
top of the string touching
the ice.
Step 4: Wait 2 minutes and then try
to remove the string from
the flask. What happens?
Step 2
Step 3
Fun Fact:
There is no liquid water in ice at
temperatures below -9.4°C (15°F)!
This means the ice is completely
solid. Adding salt to ice at
this temperature will not
melt it, because there's
no liquid water for the
salt to dissolve in!
Step 4
Step 5
2 min
Step 5: Try sprinkling sugar or
pepper on the ice. What
happens?
What’s Going On?
Fun Fact:
The ice cubes in your freezer are made from water that has frozen
Some chemicals are so reactive
into ice, but some of the water inside the ice cube is still liquid!
that they will explode from the
When salt is sprinkled on ice, the salt dissolves into the liquid
slightest trigger such as
water—inside the solid ice. Adding salt to water lowers its
dropping a container or
freezing point. This means the temperature of salt water has to be
exposing its chemical to air,
below 0°C (32°F) before it can freeze! The freezing point of the ice
sunlight, or water!
is reduced and it melts into water! When you put a string on ice
and add salt, the ice melts around the string. The ice underneath
the string stays frozen because the salt doesn't touch it. The
melted ice water eventually refreezes back onto the ice block and
freezes the string along with it! Item # BP0030. © 2009 The Mad Science Group. All rights reserved.
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