Vinegar and baking soda experiments are a staple in our house when it comes to simple science experiments you can do at home (or school). For this Fizzy Snowball Science Experiment, we made our own snowballs with baking soda and water and froze them. Then we added colored vinegar and the results we super fizzy and tons of fun!
MATERIALS NEEDED (affiliate links):
* Baking Soda
* Water
* Bowl
* Ice Cube tray
* Small bowls
* Vinegar
* Food Coloring
* Large tray
* Dropper
WHAT TO DO:
1. Start by taking about a cup of baking soda (or more if you want to make more snowballs) and add to a bowl with just enough water to allow you to mold the baking soda into balls.
2. Once you have a ball made, place in an empty ice cube tray. Keep making snowballs until the tray is full or you are out of baking soda-water mix.
3. Place the snowballs in the freezer and allow them to freeze.
4. Once they are frozen, remove from the freezer and ice cube tray and place them on a large tray or baking sheet.
5. Pour vinegar into several small cups. We did 6 cups so we could make all the colors of the rainbow. You can also just use clear vinegar but I love adding color to all the fizzy fun.
6. Add food coloring to each of the cups of vinegar to create all the colors you want.
7. Finally, give the kids droppers and ask them to melt the snowballs using the vinegar. This is where all the colorful, fizzy fun starts!
The “snowballs take a long time to dissolve because they are frozen so you may need to refill the vinegar trays.
My kids had so much fun with this activity that when it was done they immediately asked if we could make more snowballs and do it again!
Check out the below video of the kids melting their fizzy snowballs!
THE HOWS AND WHYS:
When vinegar and baking soda mix, the reaction is an acid-base reaction. Vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base. When they are mixed, one of the products produced is a gas called carbon dioxide. This is what causes all the fizzing and bubbling coming from the snowballs.
Here’s a great article with more details about the reaction between vinegar and baking soda from Wonderopolis.
Looking for more fun, simple, science experiments? Check out this list of 10 of our favorite science experiments you can do at home or school.
