Conservation of Mass Lab Investigation

Today, my table group experimented with some very fun and bubbly substances. First, we had an experiment with Pop Rocks and Coca Cola. Honestly, I wanted some Dr. Pepper for the extra carbon dioxide release, but whatever. Anyway, I thought that the balloon would quickly and easily fill with CO2, but sadly, there were air holes where it was on the bottle and it released the gas. Eventually, I just held the bottle and it kind of filled up, and then Connor took over. He shook it to release more gas, but it was the carbon dioxide from the drink, not the gas from the pop rocks. Also, it was a physical reaction, just releasing gas from the drink and snack, nothing chemical. The pop rocks released CO2 because they dissolved.

In this photo, you can see the balloon on the bottle of coca cola in an attempt to get it filled with gas, and sadly, it was a failure, but my table group learned.

In this image, you can (in a way) see the pop rocks floating on the drink, as well as bubbles surrounding. This shows the physical reaction that is taking place.

As you can see, the balloon filled up a large amount because of mainly the carbonated drink, not really the release of CO2 from the pop rocks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for the vinegar and baking soda, well, lets just say it was a bit more wild. The reaction was very sudden, and it cause a quick amount of released gas to flow into the balloon, and it bubbled very rapidly. This was a chemical change because the acid (vinegar) mixed with the base (baking soda), bringing up the classic vinegar and baking soda reaction.

In this sideways image, you can see the vinegar at the bottom of the bottle, and it has some baking soda still there, causing a small reaction to still occur. The balloon in the image didn't fill with gas all the way, but it filled fast never the less.

In this (badly shown) Keynote diagram, you can see a large amount of "bubbles" in the "bottle", and this is during the vinegar + baking soda reaction. Sadly, I didn't actually take a picture of it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end, I accepted my hypothesis that the balloon would fill with CO2 because, it did. Also, it filled from both experiments, even though the pop rocks one didn't fill that much of the balloon. I learned that gases take up a large amount of space, and they can still pack weight and pressure just as solids can. Also, they have their own mass and volume, same as solids and liquids. A lot of problems happened in the lab. First, the balloons didn't work too well. They were hard to put on the bottle noses, and they were very thin and needed to be stretched. Another problem was the fact that the balloon didn't hold an entire packet of pop rocks, and a lot of it had to be thrown away. The last real problem that happened was the fact that there were leaks in the balloons and air could go through with ease, unless you were holding it a certain way. All in all, it was a fun experiment.