Blow up a Balloon without helium

Blow It Up! Exploring Gas with Balloons, Baking Soda & Vinegar

 

The Lil Divas LOVED, LOVED, LOVED

our Fizz, Bubble & Pop! Baking Soda & Vinegar Experiment

they also adore balloons (I always have to keep some on hand)

so I knew they would get a kick out of this one!

Exploring Gas w/Balloons, Baking Soda & Vinegar

What You Need:

baking soda

vinegar

plastic bottle

balloon

funnels (we used 2)

What To Do:

1. Using your funnel pour vinegar into your bottle.

You only need to fill about 1/3 of the bottle.

2. Using another (dry) funnel pour baking soda into your balloon.

Fill the balloon approx. 1/2 way.

3. Cover the top of the bottle with you balloon.

Make sure you don't let the baking soda spill into the bottle prematurely.

4. When ready, lift your balloon and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar.

5. Watch as the mixture fizzes, bubbles & expands your balloon!

6. Discuss how the baking soda & vinegar produce a gas which fills the balloon.

7. Repeat! Believe me, your kids will want to do this more than once.

It was lots of fun for the Lil Divas to watch the ingredients combine

and form a reaction that was so visual - blowing up the balloon.

FUN!

The science behind it - Baking soda and the vinegar create an ACID-BASE reaction. When combined/mixed they create a gas - carbon dioxide. Gasses need room to spread, so the carbon dioxide fills the bottle and then moves into the balloon inflating it.

** Due to lots of comments left below I feel the need to add (for clarity) that this does NOT produce helium. Carbon Dioxide gas will inflate the balloons but they do not "fly" like helium inflated balloons as it is not the same kind of gas. This is meant to be a fun science experiment/demonstration. **

Go ahead have fun inflating some balloons!