4 Experiments with Vinegar and Baking Soda

Hello everybody! Wanna do some chemistry without spending thousands and/or putting yourself in danger? Here are 4 experiments that can be easily done with two main ingredients that we all have at home: vinegar and baking soda. Everyone has already heard about these two compounds and their effervescent reaction which can be used in many different ways (e.g. cleaning). Let’s analyse this reaction from a chemical point of view and see how to make it even funnier!

This is the equation of the reaction. We can see that mixing vinegar (AKA acetic acid) with baking soda (AKA sodium hydrogen carbonate or sodium bicarbonate) gives us carbon dioxide, water, and salt, called sodium acetate. 

Disclaimer: in your vinegar bottle, acetic acid is diluted in water. Therefore, it is important to carefully read its concentration before making measurements. For example, if you need 7 ml (approx. 7 grams) of acetic acid, and your bottle says “7% concentration,” don’t pour 7 ml of vinegar out of your bottle but rather 100 ml. 

1. Simple reaction

Very simple but still amazing: simply make the two compounds react and watch. This experiment can really impress, especially children. For this experiment, measures are not really important. If you don’t want your reaction to spill on the table, start with little quantity. 

Ingredients: 

• Vinegar
• Baking Soda
• Two containers
• Food coloring (optional)

Method:

1. Pour some baking soda in container A
2. Pour some vinegar in container B and you can color it with food coloring
3. Pour either baking soda in beaker B or vinegar in beaker A. Make sure to use the greatest beaker for the reaction, as it may spill 

2. Auto-inflating balloon that turns into a fire-extinguisher

This one is still quite simple but spectacular. Watch a balloon inflate autonomously and then use it to extinguish a candle. 

Ingredients:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Balloon
• Candle 
• Empty bottle
• Funnel

Method:

1. Pour vinegar in the bottle halfway
2. Stretch the balloon and blow it up
3. Pour baking soda in the balloon with the funnel
4. Seal the bottle with the balloon without pouring the baking soda
5. Lift up the balloon to let the baking soda fall into the bottle
6. Light a candle
7. Take the balloon off the bottle without letting the gas inside of it escape and blow its content on the candle

3. Synthetizing sodium acetate

In this case, things get tougher! This is real science. The reaction between an acid and a base usually gives us water and a salt. The reaction between vinegar (an acid) and baking soda (a base) is no different. The salt it produces is called sodium acetate, a safe compound. However, at the end of the reaction, we can’t see this salt because it is diluted in water. This experiment aims to make us see this salt! In this case, measurements will be a big deal. As this experiment requires the use of a hot-plate, a tool that produces an incredible heat, it can only be realized under an adult’s supervision. 

Ingredients:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Hot-plate
• Heat-resistant container (like laboratory beakers made out of glass)
• Another regular container
• Scale
• Measuring cup (optional)

Method:

1. Pour 20 ml of vinegar with a 7% concentration in the heat-resistant container. To measure it, you can either use a measuring cup or a scale by weighing 20 grams of vinegar
2. In the other container, pour 1.96 grams of baking soda
3. Mix the baking soda with the vinegar in the heat-resistant container and wait for the end of the reaction
4. Place the heat-resistant container on the hot-plate
5. Turn the hot-plate on and wait until all the liquid is gone

4. Lava lamp

There are two types of people on Earth: those who wanted a lava lamp when they were kids and those who just don’t wanna admit it. We don’t need to buy a lava lamp: we can create our own! However, it won’t last forever, sorry!

Ingredients:

• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Food coloring (optional but highly recommended)
• Empty bottle or any similar container
• Another container
• Vegetable oil (any oil will make it)
• Dropper

Method:

1. Pour baking soda in the bottle. You don’t need to our too much of it, it just needs to fully cover the bottom of the bottle
2. Fill the bottle with oil
3. Pour some vinegar inside the other container and color it with food coloring. You can also use many different containers and color them of many different colors
4. With the dropper, pour the colored vinegar in the bottle, one drop at a time