The Experiment!

This experiment is based off of the information provided on the following website: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/HomeExpts/FIZZFOAM.html

1. The question: Which causes a more volatile reaction, adding more baking soda or more vinegar to the experiment?

2. Information and resources:

· Information: Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Vinegar contains acetic acid dissolved in water. Sodium barcarbonate reacts with most acids. The products of the reaction with vinegar are carbon dioxide gas, sodium acetate, and water.

· Resources: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/HomeExpts/FIZZFOAM.html

3. Hypothesis: The more baking soda you add the base amount of vinegar will have a more volatile reaction than adding more vinegar to the base about of baking soda.

4. Planning the Experiment:

· There will be three stations:

o Base: Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda with ¼ cup of vinegar (plus other ingredients found from site)

o Variable 1: Mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda with ½ cup of vinegar (plus other ingredients found from site)

o Variable 2: Mix 2 tablespoon of baking soda with ¼ cup of vinegar (plus other ingredients found from site)

· Results from the Base experiment will serve as a starting point to see if more reaction is caused, and then Variable 1 and 2 experiments will be compared to see which has greater volatility.

5. Performance of Experiment:

• Base Experiment:

• Variable 1 Experiment:

• Variable 2 Experiment:

6. The Data: After completing each experiment, Variable 1 resulted in a more volatile reaction, with much more foam flowing out of the cup, and ultimately off of the plate.

7. Interpretation:

· With this basic information, it appears that adding more vinegar to the base amount of baking soda creates a more volatile reaction, but I can see some flaws with this experiment. By adding ½ cup of vinegar instead of ¼ cup, there is more liquid to be dispersed due to the reaction, perhaps being the reason more foam ended up out of the cup and off the plate than the other experiments

8. Results: Variable 1 seems to create more of a reaction, but further tests are necessary to prove this, seeing as additional variables could be affecting the outcome. With the current results though, my hypothesis has been proven wrong.

A Sample Lab Report

I was thinking through ways of how you could use blogs in the classroom that is student centered, rather than teacher centered (which is how most blogs are used in the classroom), when I started thinking about experiments in high school.

Back in my wonderful chemistry class, I remember that we would do a number of experiments, and for every experiment, we had to do a lab report. It was usually bland, I would fill it out, turn it in, get it back for some sort of grade, and forget about it. But, what if it was something that became digital? What if it was something that I could post pictures and videos of, so that I could remember it? Wouldn't that be a much more meaningful experience? I think so, so I'm going to give it a try here.

I'm going to use a very simple lab report format I found from Google:

1. Define the question
2. Gather information and resources
3. Form the hypothesis
4. Plan the experiment
5. Perform the experiment and collect data
6. Analyze data
7. Interpret and draw conclusions that help refine the hypothesis
8. Communicate results

Let's see how this works...