Baking Soda and Vinegar Science

Experiment: Exploding Baggies

Materials for Exploding Baggies

 Ziploc plastic sandwich baggie
 Water
 Vinegar
 Baking soda
 Paper towel
 Food coloring (optional)
Directions for Exploding Baggies
1. Tear a paper towel into a square shape. (We ripped off
one piece of a select-a-size roll and then tore that piece
in half to make a square. It doesn’t have to be perfect!)

2. Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking soda onto the

center of your paper towel square.

3. Fold your paper towel up so you’ve created a little

packet of baking soda and set it aside.
4. Place 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup of vinegar into
your baggie. (Add some food coloring if you’d like!)

5. Head outside and find a spot to explode your baggie.

Carefully and quickly drop the packet of baking soda into
the baggie and seal it shut completely. Give it a little
shake, set it down, move away, and watch what happens!
The baggie begins to fill up…

Our first baggie didn’t explode so we had to hypothesize

as to why it didn’t work. We think we let too much of the
carbon dioxide out before we go the bag sealed.
After quite a few successful explosions, Lucy used our
extra materials to try out other ideas. She wondered what
would happen in you didn’t use a paper towel or if you
changed the amounts of the different ingredients. She
was busy for quite a while testing out all her ideas!

What’s Going On?

The mixing of the baking soda and vinegar are creating a
chemical reaction! The two ingredients are creating
carbon dioxide gas. The gas fills the baggie and then runs
out of room causing the explosion- POP!