Camp Yellow Scope: Fizz & Fun

Howdy Campers!

Welcome back to week 6 of Camp Yellow Scope: Fizz & Fun. We hope you have been having fun while doing some serious science! Who is ready for today's experiment?

Click here to download printable instructions. You can also print out a lab worksheet to record your observations, jot down ideas, and design your own experiments! If you collect your worksheets together from all eight weeks, by the end of the summer you’ll have your very own Camp Yellow Scope notebook! You can even add some extra sheets for new experiments you design yourself.

Experiment 1: Add Some Fizz!

Nothing tastes better on a hot summer day than a cold glass of lemonade. Today we will make use of chemical reactions to make your lemonade taste better!

A chemical reaction happens when two substances bump into each other, rearrange some of their parts, and make a brand-new substance. In this experiment, you will mix lemon juice and baking soda together to produce a chemical reaction. 

Let's get started!

Clear out a space, wear clothes that can get messy and get ready to have fun with lemons!

Hypothesis

What do you think will happen when we mix baking soda and lemon juice? Will there be bubbles or will there be a change in color? Write your hypothesis in the work sheet.

WARNING: While it is safe to ingest the small amount of baking soda used in the experiment, large amounts should not be consumed, plus it doesn't taste that good!

Instructions

1. Ask an adult to slice the lemon into quarters.
2. Squeeze as much juice as you can from the lemon pieces into the drinking glass.
3. Add some water to the glass – about the same amount as lemon juice.
4. Now add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda and observe what happens!
5. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar (or a bit more) to sweeten the drink and stir well to dissolve the sugar.
6. Add some ice and a straw if you’d like.
7. Now taste your drink! What do you think of your homemade fizzy lemonade?

What's happening?

A chemical reaction happened between the citric acid in the lemon juice and the baking soda. When you added the baking soda to the lemon juice, the two substances bumped into each other, exchanged some of their parts, and formed a new substance – a gas called carbon dioxide (CO₂). The fizz you saw was made up of lots of pockets of carbon dioxide gas bubbles floating up through the liquid.

This reaction is similar to the reaction that happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda to make a model of a volcano. That reaction also produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles.

Why does it matter?

Can you think why chemical reactions are important?

• Chemical reactions in the body (called biochemical reactions) digest our food, provide us with energy, make our heart beat, make our neurons fire and basically keep us alive!
• Plants make their own food via a chemical reaction called photosynthesis.
• Burning of wood to make a campfire involves a chemical reaction. S'mores, anyone?

You Own it! 

True or False

1. Mixing lemon juice and baking soda produces carbon dioxide gas in a chemical reaction.  
2. The fizz you saw was made up of lots of pockets of helium bubbles floating up through the liquid.
3. Plants make their own food using a chemical reaction called photosynthesis.

Answer Key: 

We hope you had fun making a fizzy lemonade using science! Next week we will make a liquid rainbow using some sugar, water and food coloring. Sounds exciting?! Check back next Tuesday for more summer science fun. 

We'd love to see how your experiments turned out! Share your photos or videos:

• Facebook: Yellow Scope Science Kits for Girls
• Twitter: @YellowScopeGirl, #CampYellowScope
• email: info@yellow-scope.com

For more exciting experiments on chemical reactions, check out our Foundation Chemistry Kit.