Alpha science classroom：DIY Fire-Fighting Foam

Fire, can bring warmth and delicious cooked food to human life, make our life more comfortable, but fire can also bring disaster. So how do you put out the flames? Today, Alpha Science Classroom brought a kid's science experiment activity about fire fighting to the children. Together with the children, they made fire foam through chemical science experiment method, and became a good fireman.

Alpha science classroom：DIY Fire-Fighting Foam Materials

• Small candle

• Matches

• Adult helper

• Vinegar

• Baking soda

• Tablespoon

• Play-Doh or modeling clay

• Glass dish in which to place your candle (The candle should not be too tall; its must be lower than the top of the dish.)

• Water

• A safe area in which to perform this activity

Alpha Science Classroom: DIY fire-fighting foam steps

Step 1: Children use Play-Doh or modeling clay to paste the candle into the center of the glass plate.

Sprinkle a few tablespoons of baking soda around the candle. The bottom of the dish should be completely covered with about a quarter of an inch of baking soda.

Step 2: Children use matches to light candles with the help of adults. Observe the flame for a few seconds. What is flame-like? Is it big or small?

Step 3: The children carefully pour the vinegar into the baking soda in the glass dish. It should be enough to dissolve all the baking soda. However, make sure that no liquid or foam reaches the flame. What happens if you add vinegar to baking soda? Can the children explain their opinion? After adding the vinegar, observe the candle carefully. What happened to the flame? Does the candle keep burning? Note: If you don’t see any signs, try increasing the amount of baking soda or vinegar added to the glass dish.

Step 4: If the flame goes out, the children try to light the candle with a match again. Is this easy or difficult? What happens to the game if you approach the candle?

Step 5: The children clean the glass dishes and repeat the experiment again, but this time instead of vinegar, pour water on the baking soda. What happened to the flame this time? Did you observe the same reaction? If not, can you explain the difference?

Final addition: Together with an adult, find a fire extinguisher (if you have one) in your house and read its composition list. Can you figure out how to put out the fire? Ask an adult how to use the fire extinguisher in an emergency. But be careful not to use it accidentally!

Alpha science classroom：DIY Fire-Fighting Foam Observation results

Through this fun children's chemistry science experiment activity in the Alpha science classroom, have the children successfully put out the flames? You can't even see what caused the candle to go out, but it does almost like magic! Initially, children’s candles should burn brightly and steadily. After all, it has enough candle fuel, heat generated by matches, and oxygen in the air to maintain the fire. However, children should observe that shortly after adding vinegar to the baking soda in the glass dish, the flame suddenly goes out. what's happening? The answer is related to the chemical reaction that occurs when vinegar is mixed with baking soda.

Baking soda is another name for the compound sodium bicarbonate. It reacts with any type of acid (such as vinegar) to produce gaseous carbon dioxide (CO2). You can actually see its production-when you add vinegar to the glass dish, it creates bubbles and foam. When mixing acid with sodium bicarbonate, the same carbon dioxide reaction can cause baking soda volcanoes to erupt or inflate balloons. In this experiment, carbon dioxide eliminated the candlelight. Although it is not visible, the carbon dioxide produced by the reaction of baking soda and vinegar begins to fill the glass dish from the bottom up. Eventually, once all the air in the glass vessel is replaced by carbon dioxide, the flame will no longer burn with oxygen, and it will go out. If you try to light the candle again, the candle will not ignite because once the match enters the carbon dioxide layer in the glass dish, the match will also go out.

However, when only water is added to the baking powder in the glass dish since the water is not acid, no carbon dioxide is generated. Therefore, as long as there are enough oxygen and fuel, the candle should always burn.

Kids made fire foam, put out all the flames! Isn't that amazing? Alpha Science Classroom is over for kids. If you want to learn more about fun chemistry experiments for kids, go to Alpha Science Toys and choose your favorite chemistry experiments for kids, and grow up to be the best chemistry wizards through simple chemistry experiments!