Foamy Snow

• Set up your workspace with a tarp or tablecloth - this lab can get messy!
• Make a prediction - which recipe will make the best “snow,” the recipe with soap or the recipe without? How will the lack of soap affect how the “snow” feels?
• In one bowl, add one cup of baking soda and three tablespoons of water. Mix it together to make a dough that feels slightly sticky, like clay. If it is too wet, add more baking soda, and if it is too crummy, add more water.
• Use this dough to build a snowman or some other figure. How would you describe this recipe?
• Make a label out of masking tape and put it on the other bowl. Write “soap” on it.
• Mix your second recipe of “snow” in this bowl using one cup of baking soda, one teaspoon of soap, and three tablespoons of water. Add more baking soda or water based on the consistency of the snow.
• Use this dough to build the same figure you built in the other bowl. How would you describe this recipe? How is it similar or different to the other snow?
• Make a prediction - what will happen if you pour vinegar over each creation? Will the two different snow recipes react the same or differently?
• Get a cup of vinegar ready and pour it over the soapless snow. What happened? Did you expect the vinegar to “melt” the snow?
• Now, pour a cup of vinegar over the soapy snow. What happened? How was it similar or different to the other snow recipe? Did you expect it to create foam?

• Try experimenting with the speed of pouring vinegar over each recipe. If you pour it all at once does it react differently than if you drip it slowly?
• Will temperature change the reaction? Try using vinegar that has been slightly warmed in the microwave, or vinegar that has been chilled in the fridge. 
• Experiment with different liquids. What happens if you add more water to each recipe instead? 

The chemicals in vinegar and baking soda react with each other to create fizzing gas bubbles. The first snow recipe (without the soap) demonstrated this - it’s why your snowman likely fizzled and collapsed into a bubbly puddle. Adding soap to the snow recipe didn’t get rid of the vinegar and baking soda reaction, but it did create some foam! That is because the chemicals in the soap “trapped” the gas bubbles, making a foam. However, acid of some kind is required to make this reaction. You might get a similar effect with lemon juice, but water will not make the bubbles or fizzing.

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