C HEMICAL M IXING : A N EXPLORATION OF K ITCHEN CHEMISTRY By: Hannah Jean Ward

S CIENTIFIC QUESTION : My question was : “What happens when kitchen chemicals get mixed together?” (My dad helped me pick out the chemicals.) My hypothesis was : “It will cause a chemical reaction.” “It will bubble and explode!” “The chemicals will mix and form something new.” “Different things will happen if you mix different chemicals.”

W HAT IS A KITCHEN CHEMICAL ? Hannah: “Chemicals can be many different things. Little kids should not mix things without a grown up.” What kitchen chemicals did we look at? We used: Water Olive oil Red wine vinegar Sea salt Baking soda

W HAT DID WE DO ? What should we mix them in? How should we mix them? How much stuff should we mix up? A glass – so we can use a small amount, so we can observe it because it’s clear We should use a spoon. Mix them for 10s. A couple spoonfuls will do. What should we observe? What are they like before they are mixed – how they feel, their color, whether they are liquid or solid, if and how they smell. Does anything happen when we mix them? What does the mixed-up stuff look like?

H OW DID THESE KITCHEN CHEMICALS START OUT ? Chemical Solid or Liquid FeelSmellColor Other observations WaterLiquidSmooth, slipperyLike nothingClear Some tiny air bubbles Red Wine Vinegar Liquid Very wet, smooth and slippery SourRed Olive oilLiquid Smooth, slippery, and greasy Like something, kinda like olives Yellow-ish green Thicker than other liquids Sea SaltSolid Chunky, hard, not sticky Like nothingWhiteLittle bit clear Baking SodaSolidSoft, chunkyLike nothingWhite

S O WHAT HAPPENED ? MixtureObservations during mixingObservations of final mixture  Water and vinegarNothing really Smells like vinegar, still clear, mixed well, pink-ish in color, no changes  Water and oilNothing really Smells like the oil, oil stayed on top, greenish on top, didn’t mix well  Water and baking soda Turned white Still some stuck to spoon, more dough-like, baking soda on the bottom, mostly stayed separate  Water and saltNothingDon’t mix well, salt turned clear  Vinegar and baking soda “A chemical reaction!”, turned brown and white, it bubbled and fizzed. “Almost fizzed all over the place!” Brown, some slimy paste at bottom, bubbles mostly gone  Vinegar and oilNothing really. Tasted it and felt sick, really harsh. Didn’t mix well. Smells like vinegar.  Vinegar and salt Nothing really. The salt stayed on the bottom. Red, but the salt stayed white. Smells like vinegar  Oil and saltNothing really. Yellow with a bunch of crystals. Didn’t mix very well.  Oil and baking sodaBecame pasty. Yellowish-white, can’t see through it anymore. Smells like oil. Still a liquid.  Salt and baking sodaNothing really.It camouflaged the salt in the baking soda, can’t see it anymore. Smooth with hard bumps…salt.

S OME OF THE MORE INTERESTING MIXTURES : Baking soda and red wine vinegarOlive oil and red wine vinegar Olive oil and baking soda Different things happen!

W HAT DID WE LEARN ? 1.That baking soda and vinegar cause a chemical reaction! It bubbled but did not explode. (whew!) 2.Some things mixed well, but some things did not. In some cases the mix ended up different than the starting stuff. 3.You need to be careful when you mix things because you never know what’s going to happen. The End!