Halloween Fun with Your Children

Have a little Halloween fun with these science experiments!

Frankenstein worms (a spooky experiment): Worms should start to float and move as the vinegar (acetic acid) reacts with the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to form carbon dioxide gas bubbles on the worms.  They appear to be alive and will wriggle until the chemical reaction stops!

You Need:

Gummy worms

Scissors

Baking soda

Vinegar

Water

Instructions:

– Cut gummy worms into skinny worms by cutting them the long way with kitchen shears.   Cut each worm lengthwise at least four times. The skinnier, the better!

– Mix a few Tablespoons of baking soda into a cup or so of water, stir, and put your skinny gummy worms in the cup of baking soda solution.  Let them soak for 15 or 20 minutes.

– Fill a clear glass or jar up with vinegar. (Be careful not to splash any in your eyes.)  

– When the 15 minutes are up, pull your worms out of the baking soda solution with a fork, and drop them into the glass of vinegar. What happens?

Self-expanding ghosts (ghastly fun): (Vinegar + Baking Soda = Carbon Dioxide). The product of the vinegar and baking soda is carbon dioxide, a gas present when we breathe out. The carbon dioxide inflates the balloon. Follow the instructions as specified. If you add more of the two ingredients, the bottle will tip over and with too much pressure, the balloon could explode.

You Need:

Empty water bottle

Balloon

Small funnel

1 Tablespoon baking soda

1/2 cup vinegar

Permanent marker (to draw on a face)

Instructions:

– Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into an empty water bottle.

– Draw a face on your balloon while deflated.

– Place the funnel into the open end of the deflated balloon and pour in the baking soda.

– Secure the open end of the balloon on top of the bottle (be careful not to dump the contents of balloon into the bottle)

– When ready, hold the balloon upright allowing the baking soda to fall into the bottle and mix with the vinegar.