Chemistry experiments you will love to do with your child at home

When it comes to a subject like chemistry, nothing is better than practical work to help understand the fundamentals. Here we have listed a few experiments for kids that they will love to do at home. So go ahead and make their winter vacations fun and learning by including these in their schedule. 

Fountain fizz

You will need: Roll of mint flavoured lollies like Mentos etc., one bottle of soft drink, a piece of paper or a cardboard tube. 

What to do: This activity should be done preferably in an outdoor area. Open the soft drink bottle and place it on the ground or a flat table. Roll up the paper into a cylinder that’s just wide enough for the lollies to slide through. Close one end of the tube with your finger and put the lollies into the paper tube through the other end. Hold the tube of lollies just above the bottle and remove your finger so all the lollies drop straight in at the same time. Move away from the bottle immediately. 

Carbon dioxide is released when you drop the lollies, which thrusts the contents of the bottle up into an incredible soft drink blast.

Bath bombs 

You will need: Food colouring, flower petals, sweet almond oil, scented oil such sandalwood oil, 10 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, 3 tablespoons of citric acid, 2 large mixing bowls, 1 muffin tray, 1 small glass jar, rubber gloves, spoon. 

What to do: Grease the muffin tray with almond oil. Place the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Mix the ingredients together well, to form the base mixture. Add the flower petals to the mixture. In the small glass jar, mix together scented oil, sweet almond oil and few drops of food colouring. Pour the oil mixture into the base mixture. Wear rubber gloves and mix it all together. The mixture is ready when it stays together in your hands without crumbling. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray. Press it down firmly. Leave the bombs in the tray for a few days. Remove them from the moulds. Get into a bathtub with water and drop a bomb. Watch it fizzzzzz!

When the bomb dissolves in water, a chemical reaction takes place between the citric acid and the sodium bicarbonate. The result is called sodium citrate. Carbon dioxide is released which causes fizzing. Sweet almond oil is released during this reaction. It will form a thin layer on your skin to help to moisturise it. The sandalwood oil is for fragrance.

Rubber egg

You will need: Hard-boiled egg with the shell on, a glass of vinegar.

What to do: Leave the egg in the vinegar for at least a day. You will see bubbles and scum form on the egg. Take the egg out of the vinegar and rinse it in water. The shell will rub off. Give the egg a poke with your finger and squeeze it gently.

Vinegar is diluted acetic acid, which dissolves the calcium carbonate in the eggshell, leaving the inner membrane of the egg. As the calcium carbonate is responsible for making the shell hard, the vinegar-soaked egg feels soft and rubbery. When calcium carbonate and acetic acid mix, carbon dioxide is released. So we see bubbles. 

Take it further to explain how acid rain hits limestone, a sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate, it slowly makes the limestone fall apart as the eggshell did. People use limestone in buildings and statues. This is the reason buildings and statues get damaged by acid rain.

Hope you have a great time doing these experiments with your kids!

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