Baking soda and vinegar experiment
The materials The chemical reaction The physical changes Safety and disposal
This easy to undertake and safe experiment allows students to observe many of the features of chemical reactions as well as the three physical states of matter. This experiment clearly distinguishes a chemical change from physical change.
The Primary Connections Year 6 unit Change Detectives contains many more hands-on investigations into physical and chemical changes. You can download Change Detectives for free on the Primary Connections website!
The materials
- Baking soda - Chemical name, sodium bicarbonate with formula NaHCO3.
- Vinegar - A dilute solution of acetic acid in water. Acetic acid is also known as ethanoic acid, with the formula CH3COOH.
- A beaker or jar.
The chemical reaction
When baking soda is mixed with vinegar, something new is formed. The mixture quickly foams up with carbon dioxide gas. If enough vinegar is used, all of the baking soda can be made to react and disappear into the vinegar solution.
The reaction is:
Sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid reacts to carbon dioxide, water and sodium acetate.
NaHCO3 + CH3COOH CO2 + H2O + Na CH3COO
The physical changes
The solid baking soda was placed in liquid vinegar producing carbon dioxide gas, which is evident because of the formation of bubbles in the foaming mixture. Eventually all of the solid dissolved and reacted producing a new liquid solution.
During the reaction, a solid and liquid have been chemically reacted to form a gas and a liquid. This experiment can also be used to explain foams, as liquids or solids containing gas bubbles.
Safety and disposal
Although both reactants are household chemicals and foodstuffs, caution should be taken not to get splashes in the eyes and clothes should be protected. The products of the reaction are relatively safe (Remember - no chemicals should be touched) and can be disposed of by washing down the sink with plenty of water.
FAQs
The relationship between ELA and science is symbiotic. ELA skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening help students build background knowledge and conduct research in the science classroom.
How to integrate science and literacy? ›
One way to integrate science into reading lessons is by using texts incorporating scientific concepts. This approach can be particularly effective as the stories often provide a great opportunity to discuss important concepts in an engaging way.
Where science and literacy intersect? ›
Inquiry science and literacy intersect when students use reading, writing, and oral language to address questions about science content (for example, why humans are able to see different colors, or how an object's rate of motion is related to its mass), and to build their capacity to engage in scientific reasoning (for ...
Why is literacy important in teaching science? ›
Scientific literacy is paramount in education. It forms a vital part of a comprehensive educational framework, helping students to develop critical thinking skills, foster curiosity, and equip them to engage with and contribute to our increasingly scientific and technological society.
What are the literacy capabilities in science? ›
Literacy in Science
They are required to comprehend and compose texts including those that provide information, describe events and phenomena, recount experiments, present and evaluate data, give explanations and present opinions or claims.
What does literacy look like in science? ›
Determining a proper timeframe, sufficient subjects for study, and other investigation parameters would be aspects of scientific literacy. Effectively collaborating with classmates to conduct the investigation and communicating explanations with evidence would involve essential disciplinary literacy skills.
How do you teach literacy in science? ›
Model reading a science text by thinking aloud with your questions about the text, making connections, or summarizing as you read. Include multiple types of sources: Students can be given a chance to discuss a chart or watch a short video to set some baseline understanding before tackling a text on the same topic.
Why integrate science and ela? ›
Teaching science provides an opportunity to meet English Language Arts (ELA) standards and improve reading skills. When you tie language and literacy instruction to science, your students develop disciplinary core understanding while following their curiosity about phenomena.
What are scientific literacy examples? ›
Science literacy allows students to utilize skills and methods for productive endeavors such as: Reading and comprehending articles about scientific topics. Explaining or forecasting various types of natural phenomena.
What are the benefits of literacy in science? ›
Science literacy is critical to the public, Lodl said. Scientific knowledge helps people to be better-informed and make the best decisions possible with the best available knowledge. In the long run, she added, great decisions are based on reliable, factual research.
One study found that scientists and engineers spend over half of their working time reading, interpreting, and producing text. Without research, there is no science; but without communication, research would grind to a halt. Literacy enables vital inputs and outputs for research: read; research; write; repeat.
What is science based literacy? ›
Scientifically based reading research uses scientific procedures to obtain knowledge about how young children develop reading skills, how children can be taught to read, and how children can overcome reading difficulties.
What are the three pillars of science literacy? ›
We identified three aspects of science literacy common to most applications of the term: content knowledge, understanding of scientific practices, and understanding of science as a social process.
What is the relationship between literacy and students understanding of science? ›
Ensuring students are literate in scientific principles and science concepts can significantly improve their ability to understand what they're learning. It also allows them to make significant observations in their work. It gives them the tools they need to actively engage with science because they can understand it.
How to promote scientific literacy? ›
5 Strategies to Support Scientifically Literate Students
- Make the Framework Explicit.
- Model and Critique Explanations.
- Provide a Rationale for Creating Explanations.
- Connect Scientific Explanations to Everyday Explanations.
- Assess and Provide Feedback to Students.
What is Structured Literacy? Structured Literacy is the application of knowledge from the science of reading which teaches children to read in an evidence-based and systematic way. Any Structured Literacy approach weaves together an array of skills from the science of reading including at a minimum: Phonology.
What is the relationship between literacy and learning? ›
Children and young people encounter, enjoy and learn from the diversity of language used in their homes, their communities, by the media and by their peers. Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum.
Why is information literacy important in science? ›
Scientific information literacy is a core component of the scientific process. In addition to teaching how to find and evaluate resources, scientific information literacy should include teaching the process of scholarship as a conversation and publication in the sciences.
The materials 
CO2 + H2O + Na CH3COO