Pop Rocks Experiment...Continued

Last week, we did an experiment with Pop Rocks. The experiment left us with lots of questions, including: "What is inside a Pop Rock?"

To figure out if there was "air" in the Pop Rocks, we added them to a balloon, sealed the balloon onto a bottle of water and then poured the Pop Rocks from the balloon into the water.

We made predictions about what would happen if we added Pop Rocks to water (pink post-its).

Next, we observed. We heard the Pop Rocks crackling loudly, saw the water turn read, and saw the Pop Rocks rise and fall. It didn't look like the balloon filled with any gas. To be sure, we all squeezed the green balloon. 

There was a small bit of gas!

We discussed that the gas in a balloon is carbon dioxide. We talked about what we knew about soda and combined that with what we knew about Pop Rocks. We made predictions about what would happen if we did the same experiment....with soda.

We discussed our predictions and reasoning. Then we did our experiment! Look at the faces of our scientists...

We compared the two balloons. We asked why there was more gas in the soda bottle's balloon. We realized it was because the carbon dioxide in the soda + the carbon dioxide in the Pop Rocks = more gas to fill up the balloon.

We had a lot more questions after this experiment about gases. So during Daily 5 - Reading, we used two nonfiction texts to learn more about gases. We learned that gases fill up spaces and you can't always see them.

To show this, we talked about the bottle of soda and discussed if it was empty or not. Many children said it was empty. We put the balloon in the bottle, sealing it to the top of the bottle. I tried to blow up the balloon and I couldn't do it! ASK your child why I couldn't blow up the balloon!

Next, we talked about how gas fills spaces and why we can blow up balloons in a room. Children decided it's because gases can escape from our room, making more room for the balloon to be blown up. The kids suggested I cut a hole in the bottle for the gases to escape. ASK your child what happened!!

For the rest of the week, we explored liquids and solids. Next week? How to change between the states!