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Curious About Chemistryby Katie Smith

1Let’s Find Out!About MaterImagine everything around you: your toys, your food, even the air you breathe. All those things are made of matter. That includes you! Matter can be a solid, liquid, or a gas.Matter is made of tiny particles called atoms. Think of atoms like building blocks. They can be put together in millions of dierent ways. When two or more atoms stick together with chemical bonds, they form a molecule.The simplest molecules are made of two or more of the same type of atom. They are called elements. Elements are the foundation for everything in the universe. A substance made of many of the same molecules is a compound. We will be experimenting with compounds you have in your kitchen: baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid).You already know one type of molecule—water! Water is made of Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms.H2O

2• Medium-sized balon• 16 oz plastic botle• 1/3 cup (80 ml) vinegar• 3 tsp. (14 g) baking soda• Smal funel• SponLet’s Experiment:Safety Tips:Ask an adult for help.Wear safety goggles.• Pour 1/3 cup of vinegar into the empty botle.• Hold the mouth of the balon open and insert the funel.• Use the spon to pour 3 teaspons of baking soda into the balon.• Shake the baking soda down into the botom bulb of the balon.• Carefuly stretch the balon over the mouth of the botle, keping the balon bulb of to one side, so you don’t dump the baking soda into the botle.

3• Make sure to hold onto the balon at the botle opening.• Tip the balon up and empty the baking soda in al at once.• Watch the balon inflate!• Notice what you se, hear, and smel.When you mixed an acid (acetic acid) and a base (sodium bicarbonate), you created a neutralizing chemical reaction. One of the products of this reaction was carbon dioxide gas (CO2), which inated your balloon. We know a reaction happened because we could see bubbles forming in the bottle, and the balloon inated with a gas. The other products were sodium acetate (NaC2H3O2)—a type of salt—and water (H2O).What a gas!Carbon dioxide is invisible. Each carbon dioxide molecule is made of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. It can be a gas, or, it can be solid in the form of dry ice, which is very cold. Carbon dioxide is produced from breathing and from burning certain substances called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are burned to provide energy for things like cars, houses, and factories.

4Acetic acid: white vinegarAtom: the smallest part of a chemical substanceCarbon: a chemical element found in every living thing on EarthCompound: a pure substance made of the same type of moleculesElement: a molecule that is made of only one type of atomH2O: water moleculeHydrogen: a chemical element that exists as a molecule made of two hydrogen atoms. It is an element in the water molecule: 2 atoms of hydrogen, 1 oxygen (H2O).Matter: anything that can be weighed or measured and takes up space. All matter is made of atoms.Molecule: a particle made of several atoms bonded togetherOxygen: a chemical element that commonly occurs as a gas living things need to breathe. It is an element in the water molecule: 2 atoms of hydrogen, 1 oxygen (H2O).Sodium bicarbonate: baking sodaSodium chloride: table salt (NaCl)Sodium: a chemical element. It is the 6th most abundant element on Earth. It occurs commonly in the form of salts, and is part of the mixture of compounds that make up seawater.Glosary

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Katie Smithkatiesmithdesigns.netm.katie.smith@gmail.comRocky Mountain College of Art+DesignBFA Illustrative Design, 2024Kat Sit