three uninflated baloons
Activity

Baking Soda and Vinegar’s Reaction

An experiment for students who are blind or visually impaired using balloons to determine if different vinegars react differently with baking soda.

This science project was done by Marina, who is a student at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI).


Question

What effect will different vinegars have on the baking soda/vinegar reaction?  Will the balloon blow up more?

Hypothesis

The white vinegar will blow up the balloon the most.

Materials

Procedure

*Note in regard to procedure:  I made changes to the procedure several times.  The first time, the balloon didn’t blow up enough to measure, so I doubled the amount of vinegar and baking soda.  Then, all of the balloons blew up completely so there was no difference between any of the balloons.  I decided to increase the amount of baking soda and vinegar by only 50% and this worked. 

  1. Measure 15 ml of baking soda using a measuring spoon.  Pour the baking soda into the balloon using a funnel.
  2. Measure 45 ml of vinegar and pour it into a water bottle.
  3. Put the mouth of the balloon on the wine spout to keep the baking soda in the balloon.  (The balloon will be flopped to one side.)
  4. Lift the balloon up and pour the baking soda into the bottle of vinegar.
  5. Observe for 1 minute
  6. Repeat for each type of vinegar.
  7. Measure the circumference of the balloon by wrapping string around the balloon and then measuring it with a piece of string.
  8. Record the data.
  9. Make the data into a graph.
Image of various vinegars
Various types of vinegar

Results

Final trial on 5-12-15

Circumference of balloons:

Conclusion

My results did support my hypothesis because the white vinegar blew up the most.

Variations

Other vinegars could have also been tested. 

NGSS Standards:

By Laura Hospitál

Collage of experimenting with baking soda and vinegar

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