Burning Down the
House
Task: To calculate the amounts of baking soda (in grams) and vinegar (in mL)
required to put out fires (tea candles) in three rooms of a home you
design.
Details:
Part I - Build a House and Fire extinguishing system
The House must contain:
• three rooms (each room with one tea candle)
• no roof (open doors/ windows aren't a good idea either)
• a built in fire extinguishing system using baking soda and vinegar
• the fire extinguishing system must be outside the house itself
• NOTE: the house may simply be a shoe box with two dividers. You are not graded on
the aesthetics of the house/ fire extinguishing system - Only on whether or not it works.
Part II - Calculate amounts of vinegar/baking soda needed
Things you need to know:
Assume room conditions: 1 atm, 25°C
Vinegar is 5.00% acetic acid by mass
Density of vinegar is 1.006 g/mL
Baking soda (NaHCO3) and Acetic acid (CH3COOH) react to form carbon dioxide,
sodium acetate, and water.
Don't make this complicated. Think of it as a homework question. How many grams of
Baking soda and how many milliliters of vinegar are needed to produce enough carbon
dioxide gas to fill a total volume of ____________ (fill in volume of house, reaction chamber
etc.).
Outline of Calculations: (Done in class.) You are responsible for keeping track of these!
Part III - Put out the fires in class. (Can be done with a partner.)
• You are graded on whether or not your extinguishing system works. See checklist for
actual grades obtained.
• Your extinguishing system must be self sufficient. (Meaning if you're using straws they
may not be moved, squeezed, covered etc. once the experiment is underway. If this is done,
the highest grade you can get is 80%.)
• You do NOT have to add all reactants at once. They can be added little by little (it doesn't
matter in what order they are added). You do not need to use all of the calculated amounts.
You may not use more and receive full credit.
• It must be obvious that carbon dioxide puts out the flames. If your reaction is too explosive
and liquid puts out the flames, it does NOT count. You must do it again as a second turn.
• If you use a bottle as a reaction chamber you may NOT squeeze it to push extra gas out of
the chamber.
Part IV - The Report (Must be done ALONE. Shared work will share credit.)
This MUST be done INDIVIDUALLY!!! Any shared work will share credit. NONE of
the sections should be the same as your lab partner (I realize your calculations will
lead to the same answers, but do YOUR OWN WORK!
You must type a report. This report must include:
• a purpose (Detailed, but concise. A few sentences at most.)
• a diagram of the house & delivery system etc.
- include dimensions
- must be neat and drawn approximately to scale
- must be decent size (at least 1/2 page)
• a data table including all measured quantities to the proper decimal place and with the
appropriate uncertainty (length, width, height of house, volume of reaction chamber,
volume/length measurements of delivery system). All measurements should be in metric
units (measure lengths in centimeters; volume in milliliters).
• ALL calculations shown (these may be typed OR NEATLY hand-written in black pen)
- A balanced chemical equation with subnotations
- work for calculations must be shown and labeled correctly
- follow significant figures rules
- any measurements made should include uncertainties
(uncertainties need not be included after multiplying/dividing)
• A conclusion - This should refer back to the purpose of the project and give the answers to
any objectives. (be brief! A few sentences at most.)
• Remember: This is a formal report! Make it neat and organized!!!
- Points will be deducted for poorly organized/sloppy reports.
• Please do not turn in reports in 3-ring binders or plastic covers. Thanks!