Wednesday 3 September 2014

Science: Chemical Reactions

Scout Kid was very excited to start 'dool' this morning, and after breakfast once Feral Kid was down for his nap, we set up at his desk for our first lesson. We used an eyedropper, a squirt bottle, a teaspoon, and our fingers to experiment with the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar. Here's what we did, led by Scout Kid's interest, for about an hour:

-Talked about how two things can mix together to make something new or something happen, and how that is called a chemical reaction. (This led to Scout Kid dripping vinegar into the soda and exclaiming joyfully, "Someping new! Someping new!")
-Used the eyedropper and the squirter to make the baking soda in the tray fizz.
-Added food colouring to the vinegar to enjoy the pink fizz.
-Experimented with adding baking soda to the vinegar instead, including making handprints in the baking soda and then rinsing hands off in the vinegar bowl.
-Experimented with tasting vinegar and baking soda (unprompted). Result: "Dat taste nasty." Drank some water.
-Experimented with adding water to the baking soda, and discussing how some things cause a reaction and some don't. 
-Cleaned up. Not an insignificant part of the lesson.

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