Today, the children took part in an experiment to inflate a balloon by using science. We couldn't use mechanical devices or blow the balloons up ourselves, instead the children had to build on existing knowledge of states of matter to help design an experiment to to do this for us. We decided on vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. At first, we filled the balloon with the soda and the bottle with the vinegar, we all assumed this would yield great results. However, as you can see in the experiment with the red balloon, the chemical reaction only produced enough gas to make it stand and look slightly inflated.
Following a discussion with the class, the children thought that this was a result of the bicarbonate of soda taking too long to be shaken out of the balloon into the vinegar below - slowing the reaction. As a result of this conclusion, they asked if we could refine our experiment and try again; this time having the soda in the bottle but filling the balloon with vinegar. As you can see with the orange balloon, this inflated the balloon considerably more. I was really impressed with how engaged the children were this afternoon and the level of discussion and thought that went into improving our experiment to provide greater results.
