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Lemon Juice Rockets next ZOOMsci | ZOOMsci index | list of activities | Your Results Sent in by: Cherrell of SC Three, two, one, blast-off! (Fannee Doolee says, "When you're done here, check out the Kitchen Chemistry online game for more scientific kitchen kOOkineSS!") Materials needed:
Instructions: 1. Check with a grown-up before you begin. 2. You will want to do this outside. 3. First, tear the paper towels into strips and attach them to the cork with tape. This makes the cork look more like a rocket. 4. Then, cut a small square out of toilet paper, put about a teaspoon of baking soda in the middle of the square, and fold in the sides to make a little packet. 5. Put the funnel into the opening of the bottle. 6. Pour a half inch of lemon juice into the bottle, and then add water until it is a little less than half-way full. 7. Put on your safety glasses. Drop the baking soda packet into the soda bottle, close the bottle with the cork, shake the bottle, and stand back for lift off. 8. Here's the reason the cork shoots up. Cherrell says that as the water and lemon juice soak through the toilet paper, the baking soda reacts to produce carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas. As more gas forms, pressure builds up inside the bottle and sends the cork flying. Lemon juice is an acid, and baking soda is a base. When they are mixed together they produce carbon dioxide. Try launching your rocket by mixing other acids with the baking soda. Make a prediction, and then test it out. Be sure to send us your discoveries so that we can share them with the world! You can also send us your pictures or video of this ZOOMsci: ZOOMsci ZOOM Box 350 Boston, MA 02134 Some of your results: Brady, age 12 of Grand Junction, GA wrote: I put a inch of vinegar in and two teaspoons of baking soda and shook it up (after I put the cork on) and I never saw that cork again. NOTE: I used a 2 liter pepsi bottle. Jordan, age 11 of Phoenix, AZ wrote: I tried it with vinegar and baking soda and the cork shot two stories high! It was unbelievable! Then I tried it upside-down and the bottle went almost as high. Steven, age 11 of Wooster, OH wrote: I used orange juice and baking soda and the cork shot real high. Then I use orange juice and one broken Alka-Selzer and the cork shot higher than the baking soda cork went. Sara, age 11 of Georgetown, IN wrote: My freind and I did the Lemon jucie Rockets. We mixed lemon juice and vineger together. When it exploded it made the bigest popit was great! We also added more baking soda to create more carbon dioxide. Jessica, age 7 of Pompano Beach, FL wrote: When I did this it went 12 feet high. Brenda, age 11 of Albuquerque, NM wrote: When I tried the lemon juice rocket, I added double the matierials needed and it exploded higher and faster. It was very very cool. Natalie, age 12 of Stockton, MO wrote: I accidently tried it with the bottle standing the wrong way! It blast from the ground and went like 4 feet I couldnt believe it! Joseph, age 10 of Decatur, IL wrote: I tryed the lemon juice and baking soda experiment. I found out that it was more powerful than baking soda and viniger. I used a two liter bottle instead. It shot all the way down the street. Leah, age 10 of Vancouver, WA wrote: My brother and I tried it with lemonade and seltzer water. They didn't work though. We also tried Diet Pepsi. We still are thinking of diferent ways to try to make the rocket go and if we find a way to make it go, we will send it to you. Bethany, age 12 of Spicer, MN wrote: I tried it with vineger, and it didn't even get strong enough to blow the cork off. Aaron, age 11 of Perth, Australia wrote: When I did the lemon juice rockets I used Malt Vinegar instead of Lemon Juice, no water and lots of baking powder it worked extremely well on one go. It was a really wicked experiment. Nicole, age 11 of Whiteland, IN wrote: Me and my cousin tried to do the lemon juice rockets. Then we tried it with a 12 oz. can of pepsi and 5 tablespoons of baking powder not soda. If it doesn't work than you need more baking powder. Jolene, age 11 of Santa Fe, NM wrote: I set the Lemon Juice Rocket on my kitchen table when it went off it made a mess everywhere, but it was fun. Tracey, age 8 of Freeport, NY wrote: Frist I got a bottle with a cap that you can pull off. Then I added some lemon juice. After I added bakeing soda. Afer that I closed the cap and scook it. Finaly I stood back and wacthed. Tony, age 14 of Los Angeles, CA wrote: I put soda inside (dosent matter how much) then I shake it for exactly 5 sec. Then I put it upside down and I step 5 feet away and it and it blew up but it wasent dangerous. Kyle, age 12 of New York City, NY wrote: It was awsome because I used two bottles filled with lemone juice and bacone soda and taped the bottels together. And then it actauly scared my dog away! The two bottls were like a real life rocket. Vincent, age 4 of Philadelphia, PA wrote: We did the lemon juice rockets with baking soda and had a great time watching the rockets exploding. We had lots of fun looking for the corks in the trees after the explosions. We eventually found then two houses over. We also tried the experiment with orange juice and vinegar. Orange juice did not explode at all. It just made a lot of bubbles. The vinegar was the fastest and exploded with great force. We really enjoy trying your experiments. Thank you. Christopher of Aberdeen-Matawan, NJ wrote: The AIR pushed it out because there wasn't enough lemon juice or FEUL in the bottle. Atlas, age 5 of Minneapolis, MN wrote: When we did it, it started foaming and once it exploded in my aunt's hand. One time it was really bad because the top fell off but no height. Our best formula was about a cup of vinegar about a third of a cup of water and two teaspoon packets of baking soda. Not much shaking. Monica, age 11 of El Paso, TX wrote: I used crystal light insted, pink and staberry keawy. The leminade harely worked, kiwy worked instintly. I put the bakeing soda in befor the water. Edmund, age 8 of Woodhaven, NY wrote: Well, since it could be messy I did it in the bathroom. I even video taped it!!! I did what the instructions said and it blew!Well, after a while I knew that Na(CO3)2 (Baking soda) and CH3COOH (Vinegar) when they react together they produce CO2, probably H2O and Sodium acetate. Victoria & Jack of Worcester, MA wrote: Instead of making a lemon juice rocket, my brother and I tried making rockets out of vinegar and orange juice. The vinegar rocket worked really well, but the orange juice rocket didn't. We tried aiming our vinegar rocket to see how far the cork would go. The cork went almost 20 feet. We think you should try it to. Thanks for telling us about this experiment. Cory, age 7 of Atlanta, GA wrote: We tried this experiment with Grapefruit Juice, Lime Juice, Sweetned Rose's Lime Juice, Lemon Juice, Club Soda and Tonic Water. The tonic water and the club soda didn't work at all. Lemon Juice did not work too well, but the lime juice did. However, the grapefruit juice was the real winner. Our cork shot up at least 40 feet in the air. We tried varying the amounts of the juice and how hard to push in the cork. Even just 1/3 of a cup of grapefruit juice with 1 tsp. of baking soda still sent the cork up in the air like a high flying rocket! This was a fun experiment. Hayley, age 11 of Alta Loma, CA wrote: We tried grapefruit juice and more than a teaspoon of baking soda. It went pretty high!! We also tried coca-cola. It didn't work. Also my cork fit perfect, but once it got wet it slipped right into the bottle! So I would recomend that even if your cork fits, wrap it in tape. Markie, age 5 of New Orleans, LA wrote: The first time, we tried lemon juice but even though we got bubbles, nothing much happened. The second time we used vinegar instead. The bottle fell over but the cork shot out 13 feet through my mom's garden! This was a fun thing for my mom and me to do. Terrica, age 10 of Birmingham, AL wrote: Well I had poured some lemon juice and water in a bottle with some baking soda. Then on put the top or cork on it shoke it and... BOOM!!! I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY COOL BECAUSE I JUST love science!!! Abby, age 11 of Vadnais Hts., MN wrote: Well when I did it, it didnt do what it did on the show but I found out that you can use lime juice too. But what are other acids that you can use? I did try to use a pop it was Mountain Dew but it didnt work. What are other pops you can use... like can you use coke? Well I was just wandering if could also get a list of acids like lemon and lime juice. Ali, age 8 of Salem, OR wrote: It didn't work. I think it was because we didn't put enough lemon juice. We couldn't tell how much lemon juice to use.
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