THE STUDY OF THE REACTION THAT ALKA-SELTZER TABLETS HAVE WITH WATER AND THE REACTION THAT BAKING POWDER HAS WITH VINEGAR IN A PLASTIC BAG Jihad Libbus Cary Academy ABSTRACT The study was to determine the reaction of an Alka-Seltzer and water in a plastic bag. Alka- Seltzer is made of mainly sodium bicarbonate and when mixed with water it produces carbon dioxide. Different amounts of water and vinegar were poured in to a bag with either Alka- Seltzer or baking soda. One really interesting result was that the hotter the water mixed with Alka-Seltzer the faster the bag explodes. This is because hot water dissolves the Alka-Seltzer faster and thus produces gas faster and explodes the bag quicker. INTRODUCTION An experiment that has been done Chase Coley in his experiment his purpose of his study was to determine how long it takes for a canister to pop open with one Alka-Seltzer tablet inside. He found out that Carbon dioxide is a gas at regular temperature and it is a gas on Earth. In his experiment the canister was halfway filled with different types of Dasani Water and an Alka-Seltzer was put in the water. The Alka-Seltzer tablet was timed to see how long it took to pop it off. It was determined in his experiment that the canister pops faster when there are two Alka-Seltzer tablets because they create air pressure faster and that is what makes it pop faster. Alka-Seltzer is used for the relief of heartburn and stomach aches. Alka-Seltzer is made of sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate, and anhydrous citric acid. The most important ingredient in Alka-Seltzer is sodium bicarbonate. The ingredient sodium bicarbonate is what makes the water fizz when you put the Alka-Seltzer tablet in the water. Sodium bicarbonate is a salty crystalline powder. The chemical compound for Sodium bicarbonate is NaHCO 3. This stands for sodium, three oxygen, one carbon and hydroxide. The taste of Sodium bicarbonate resembles the taste of washing soda. They mine naturally occurring deposits of nahcolite (NaHCO 3 ) found in Piceance Basin in Colorado. Nahcolite was deposited as beds during periods of high evaporation in the basin. It is commercially mined using leach techniques involving dissolution of the nahcolite by heated water that is pumped through the nahcolite beds and reconstituted through a natural cooling crystallization process.
Figure 1: the chemical structure or sodium bicarbonate Water is made up of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule hence the name H 2 O. Water is a liquid that has no taste or order it is transparent (see through) with a light tint of blue. About 70 percent earth is covered in water. Water naturally replenishes itself through a process called the water cycle. In this cycle water goes from puddles, lakes, seas, or the ocean get evaporated by the sun into vapor. Then the evaporated vapor water condenses and forms clouds (condensation). Then when all the condensation gets too heavy to float in the atmosphere it rains down back to the ground (precipitation). Then all the precipitation flows into puddles and lakes and the ocean (accumulation). And it happens all over again in a cycle, the water cycle. People are made up of more than half water. Most people have are
made up of 55% water and a new born baby is usually made up of around 65% water and some times as much as 85% water. People use water for everything drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, and playing. Waters freezing point is 32 o F and its boiling point is 212 0 F. Alka-Seltzer fizzes in water because when the Alka-Seltzer tablet touches water the citric acid and sodium bicarbonate dissolve in the water. Then the citric acid and sodium bicarbonate react with each other in the water, thus producing fizz. Figure 2: what happens when Alka-Seltzer is dropped in water MATERIALS AND METHODS In the experiments the materials that were used were beakers, hot plates, water, vinegar, baking soda, Alka-Seltzer, plastic bags, a thermometer, root beer soda, skittles, Hershey drops, and a bucket.
In experiment 1 Alka-Seltzer was dropped in different amounts of water and then it was timed to see how long it took to stop fizzing. In experiment 2 Alka-Seltzer was dropped into a bag full of different amounts of water and was to see how long it took to fill up the bag with the air that the Alka-Seltzer produced. In experiment 3 different amounts of vinegar was poured in to a bag with baking soda in it and was timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 4 different amounts of baking soda was poured in to a bag with vinegar in it and was timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 5 different temperatures of vinegar were poured in to a bag with baking soda in it and was timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 6 different temperatures of water were poured in to a bag with Alka-Seltzer in it and was timed to see how long the mixture took to fill up the bag with air. In experiment 7 different amounts of Alka-Seltzer tablets were dropped into a bag with water in it and were timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 8 different liquids were poured into a bag with Alka-Seltzer in it and were timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 9 different small foods were dropped into a bag with Alka-Seltzer and water in it and were timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. In experiment 10 Root beer was left out to fizz for different amounts of time and then it was poured into a bag with Alka-Seltzer in it and were timed to see how long the mixture took to blow the bag apart. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
time till tablets stop fizzing (sec) 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 amount of water (ml) Figure 3: Alka-Seltzer placed in diffrent amounts of water. In this experiment when the Alka-Seltzer was placed in 50 ml of water it dissolved the slowest when it was placed in to 100 ml of water it dissolved quicker than in 50 ml of water and when it was placed in 150 ml of water it dissolved the fastest. This probably happened because when more water is added it dilutes the Alka-Seltzer it quicker.
time it took to fill the bag up with air (sec) 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 amount of water in beaker(ml) Figure 4: Alka-Seltzer being dropped in different amounts of water. In this experiment Alka-Seltzer was dropped in different amounts of water. When more water was added the quicker the bag filled up with air. This is most likely because with more water the faster the tablet dissolves and the quicker the bag fills up with air.
time it takes to blow (sec) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 amount of vinegar (ml) Figure 5: different amounts of vinegar mixed with baking soda in a bag. In this experiment different amount of vinegar was poured into a bag with baking soda in it. The time it takes to explode decreases when there is more vinegar added. This is most likely because with more vinegar the faster the baking soda dissolves and the quicker the bag fills up with air.
time it takes to blow (sec) 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.1 4 3.9 0 5 10 15 20 25 amount of baking soda (ml) Figure 6: different amount of baking soda mixed with vinegar inside a bag. In this experiment different amounts of baking soda was added to a bag with vinegar then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this case when more baking soda is added the time becomes quicker. This is most likely because the more baking soda added the quicker it disperses and the faster the bag pops.
time it takes to blow (sec) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 temperature of vinegar (C) Figure 7: vinegar of different temperatures poured in a bag with baking soda In this experiment different temperatures of vinegar was added to a bag with baking soda in it then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this experiment as the heat of the vinegar increases the bag pops quicker. This is most likely because the hotter the liquid is the faster the tablet dissolves and the quicker the bag fills up with air.
time it takes to fill up with air (sec) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 temperature of water (C) Figure 8: different temperatures of water poured into a bag with Alka-Seltzer In this experiment different temperatures of water was added to a bag with Alka-Seltzer in it then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this experiment as the heat of the water increases the bag pops quicker. This is most likely because the hotter the liquid is the faster the tablet dissolves and the quicker the bag fills up with air.
time it took to expode (sec) 25 20 15 10 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 number of tablets Figure 9: different amounts of Alka-Seltzer were added to a bag with water in it. In this experiment different amounts of Alka-Seltzer was added to a bag with water then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this case when more Alka-Seltzer is added the time becomes quicker. This is most likely because the more Alka-Seltzer added the quicker and stronger they all are. Each time a tablet is added it increases the strength by a lot, for example 2 tablets would have double the strength than 1 tablet.
time it takes to explode the bag (sec) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 water vinagar root beer type of liquid Figure 10: Alka-Seltzer was added to many different liquids. In this experiment Alka-Seltzer was added to a bag with different liquids then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this case when the vinegar and Alka-Seltzer mix exploded the quickest. This is most likely because water and root beer are the thickest and vinegar has the thinnest consistency.
itime it takes to blow (sec) 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 Hershey drops skittles cheerios items in the water Figure 11: Alka-Seltzer was added to many different snack foods. In this experiment Alka-Seltzer was added to a bag with different snacks floating in water then it was timed to see how long it took to explode. In this case when the skittles, water, and Alka-Seltzer mix exploded the quickest. This is most likely because Hershey drops and cheerios are thicker than the skittles when mixed with water and the skittles restricted the Alka-Seltzer least.
time it takes to blow (sec) 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 0 1 2 3 4 time left out to go flat (mins) Figure 12: soda was left to sit and then Alka-Seltzer was mixed in and the mix was timed to see how long it took to blow. In this experiment soda was left to sit for different amounts of time and then Alka-Seltzer was mixed in and the mix was timed to see how long it took to blow. In this case when the soda was left out for only 1 minute the mix exploded the quickest. This is most likely because the fizz from the soda helped the Alka-Seltzer tablet to pop the bag quicker and when it loses its fizz it helps less. CONCLUSION The overall result is that when you add more liquid the quicker the Alka-Seltzer dissolves and the quicker the bag pops faster. This is important to anyone that wants to explode something with Alka-Seltzer or baking soda; it tells them for better results they should use baking soda. The hypotheses that when you add more liquid the quicker the Alka-Seltzer dissolves and the quicker the bag pops faster turned out to be true and important. For a future experiment it would be good if someone figured out if the temperature of the baking soda the Alka-Seltzer effects the popping time of the bag.
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