Ingredients
A 500ml bottle
A straw
Vinegar
Bicarbonate of soda
The use of a drill
Instructions
You want to build a nozzle into the lid of the bottle, to do this first drill a hole in the top (or get someone with a drill to make the hole for you.
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| Drill a hole in the bottle cap | It should be large enough to fit your straw |
You then need to hold the straw into the cap against some pressure, so put some plasticine, or blue tack around the straw, inside and outside the cap
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| Seal the inside with plasticine | Support the straw and weight the stern of you boat with more on the outside |
The plasticine on the inside is most important for making a seal, as the pressure will tend to push it against the straw, on the outside it is mostly acting as support and weight to make sure the straw is below the liquid level inside the bottle.
Fill the bottle a third full of water and test that it floats fairly level but with the neck of the bottle lower than the base.
If you are using strong vinegar dilute it with it's own volume of water.
Now fill the bottle a third full of vinegar.
Very quickly add 1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, put the lid on, and put the bottle into a bath or a sink.
Result
You should find that a jet of vinegary water is shot out of the straw and the bottle is pushed through the water.
Explanation
Bicarbonate of soda (Sodium hydrogen carbonate) has carbon-dioxide gas locked up inside its structure, if it reacts with an acid such as Vinegar (acetic acid) it releases carbon-dioxide gas
Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate + Acetic Acid -> Sodium Acetate + Water + Carbon-dioxide
This carbon-dioxide is a gas so has a much larger volume than the vinegar and Bicarbonate of soda so it bubbles up and it pushes outwards, building up the pressure
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| The bicarbonate of soda and vinegar react producing carbon-dioxide gas | The pressure builds up forcing water and vinegar out of the straw |
This pressure pushes vinegar and water out of the straw
The equal and opposite reaction pushes the boat along, using the same principle as a jet or rocket.
Comments
does the volume of gas also
Is the volume of gas affected if the vinegar and baking soda are mixed up?
The volume isn't affected,
The volume isn't affected, but the speed of the reaction is. If you mix the ingredients well, the gas is created faster, resulting in more pressure for the propulsion.
Why is baking soda the only
Why is baking soda the only substitute
for bicarbonate can't you use something else, I'm a homeschool girl
and I can't afford to get behind so I really need an affective substitute for bicarbonate
It isn't only baking soda
It isn't only baking soda that will work, anything (safe) containing a carbonate that will react with an acid to produce a soluble product (otherwise the reaction will stop) will be fine.
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