Gas from baking soda and vinegar
Drop 2 to 20 g of baking soda into vinegar and blow up a balloon with the carbon dioxide. Use the equation and moles to find the mass and volume of the gas and how much vinegar the soda needs.
Core concept
NaHCO₃ + CH₃COOH → CH₃COONa + H₂O + CO₂: one mole (84 g) of baking soda gives one mole (44 g, about 24 L) of carbon dioxide and needs one mole (60 g) of acetic acid
Topic: Chemistry in the kitchen
Baking soda is sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO₃. Vinegar is about 5% acetic acid: A substance that tastes sour, like lemon juice or vinegar. It turns blue litmus red. All key words, CH₃COOH, in water. When they meet they fizz: NaHCO₃ + CH₃COOH → CH₃COONa + H₂O + CO₂. The equation says one particle: A tiny piece that matter is made of, far too small to see. All key words of soda reacts with one particle of acid and gives one particle of carbon dioxide: A gas we breathe out. Plants take it in to make their food. All key words, so we can count in moles. A mole of soda is 84 g, a mole of acetic acid 60 g and a mole of CO₂ 44 g, which as a gas at room temperature: How hot or cold something is, measured in degrees Celsius (°C). All key words takes up about 24 litres. So grams of soda ÷ 84 gives the moles, and from the moles we get the gas made and the acid needed. Vinegar is only 5% acid, so the vinegar needed is 20 times the acid.
What you will learn
- Write the equation for baking soda and vinegar.
- Convert grams to moles with the molar mass.
- Find the mass and volume of gas made, and the vinegar needed.
Before you start
- Know molar mass and that one mole of gas fills about 24 L at room temperature.
Materials
- Baking soda, white vinegar, a plastic bottle, a balloon and a funnel
- A kitchen scale
Equipment
- None
Procedure
- Record 10 g of baking soda.
- Change to 20 g and record.
- Change to 2 g and record.
How this simulation is simplified
- Molar masses: NaHCO₃ 84 g/mol, CH₃COOH 60 g/mol, CO₂ 44 g/mol; a mole of gas fills 24 L at room temperature.
- Vinegar is 5% acetic acid by mass, and there is enough of it to use up all the soda.