8th grade students recently spent time observing chemical reactions and substance changes! To help gain a better understanding, we demonstrated a few different activities. First, students were given 2 quart bags, a 1 gallon bag, spoons, road salt (calcium carbonate), powdered sugar and baking soda. Students made a couple of different mixtures in the ziploc bags and were asked to record any observations and changes. Once the dry mixtures were done, students then added some water to each bag and noted any changes. We observed little to no change in the bag with sugar and baking soda, however the bag with road salt and baking soda started to react immediately! The bag that started a chemical reaction was releasing carbon dioxide as a product which would cause their bags to expand and eventually pop! Not only was the CO2 gas a product of this reaction, but students noted the presence of heat as a byproduct of the reaction too. The next activity was very similar but involved different materials to cause a chemical reaction. In this part, students used a plastic bag again but this time we mixed baking soda and white vinegar. This mixture caused an immediate reaction and started to fizz up! The gas being released in this reaction is CO2 again; the gas would fill the bags until it couldn’t take anymore and soon enough they would pop! These two activities created quite a ruckus in the science lab that all of the students were excited about!