Bubbling Baking Soda

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether or not the amount of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) used affects the amount of carbon dioxide produced when reacting with vinegar (acetic acid). Our null hypothesis was that if different amounts of baking soda react with 70 mL of vinegar, then the mean volume of bubbles formed should be the same because the amount of baking soda used does not affect the amount of carbon dioxide produced. This experiment was done by mixing a small amount of liquid soap with vinegar so that the soap is able to catch the carbon dioxide gas produced when mixed with baking soda. The theoretical value of baking soda (5 g) needed to react with all the acetic acid present in 70 mL of vinegar was used as a control and from there, the experiment was replicated multiple times but increasing the amount of baking soda by 2x, 1.5x, and decreasing it by 0.75, 0.5x, and 0.25x for each respective trial. The P-value for the one-way ANOVA test was lower than 0.0001, therefore we were able to reject the null hypothesis.The results of this experiment was that when different amounts of baking soda were used for the reaction, the volume of bubbles formed differed as well.