Conservation of Mass Investigation

Materials:
A supply of Pop Rocks
A 20 ox bottle of soda (Full and Empty)
A balloon
A funnel
1 tsp. baking soda
50 mL of vinegar
2 balloons

Hypothesis: Wen the Pop Rocks go into the soda, it will fizzle and dissolve. The Pop Rocks gradually dissolve when introduced to liquid, so the reaction will be the same.

Pop Rocks: The first thing that we did was pour an entire package of Pop Rocks into an empty balloon. Next, take the bottle of soda and open it. Attach the balloon to the place where the cap goes but do not let the Pop Rocks fall into the soda yet. Once the balloon is attached and a secure seal is established, pour the Pop Rocks into the soda. Observe.

Vinegar: Take the empty soda bottle and put 50 mL of vinegar inside the empty bottle. Use the funnel and place 1 tsp of baking soda inside the balloon. Open the bottle of soda and attach the balloon, but do not let the baking soda fall into the soda yet. After the balloon is attached and a secure seal is established, pour the baking soda into the soda. Observe.

Compare the two reactions once the reaction is finished.

Results:

Pop Rocks
For the Pop Rock experiment, we didn't get much of a result. The reaction we saw in other groups was the balloon on top of the bottle filling with gas and then staying inflated above the soda bottle. Our balloon, coined "Peanut", unfortunately had a small leak, and lost of the gas came out of the bottle. We were able to put a more secure seal on, and then captured some of the gas in the balloon. This is what the bottle and balloon looked like:



Luckily, for the vinegar and baking soda, we got a cooler and better working reaction. When we poured the baking soda into the vinegar, the product was again gas, but there was more of it that filled the balloon. This balloon, coined "Monster", was almost the size of an apple when the balloon stopped growing. "Monster" looked like it could eat "Peanut" for breakfast, as it was probably four times bigger. For a picture of "Monster":



For a video showing the creation of "Monster" and then comparison's between "Monster" and "Peanut":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVTHziF9yWE

Conclusion: It ended up that my hypothesis was half right. The Pop Rocks did fizz, but they didn't dissolve into the soda. The soda and Pop Rocks fizzed because tiny bubbles of CO2 were being released when the substances mixed together. I won't go into depth about the vinegar and baking soda, because everybody knows about the experiment where you put vinegar and baking soda together and it fizzes up and it seems like your liquid level grows. I believe that we added to much baking soda to the vinegar, and then too little Pop Rocks to the soda. Our balloon broke, and that definitely affected our results.



Hey, I triple dog dare you to eat Pop Rocks and then drink soda. See what happens.