Summer Science - AIG Properties of Atoms and Molecules Unit 1

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

We finished up Properties of Matter and jumped right into the next book I planned, Properties of Atoms and Molecules. (The third book in the Chemistry & Ecology series, Properties of Ecosystems, is used in My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. So those topics aren't scheduled in MFW 1850-Modern Times).

For unit 1, we started with a bang. Well, more of a plop and fizz. :) We showed how baking soda reacts with vinegar and then on a much larger scale how Mentos react with Diet Coke.
My biggest tip for the Mentos/Coke project is to not try to fit your paper tube and Mentos inside the house. Just sayin'.
I got 25 2-liters of Diet Coke (on sale for just $1) and Mentos on sale as well. I got some funny looks in the store because of all the soda in my cart.

I cut scrap cardstock into 6" x 3" pieces. Then we wrapped them into cone shapes that were wide enough to hold Mentos and would sit over the open bottle of soda. Scotch tape closed the seam. We taped dental floss onto the end of a toothpick. Then we poked holes through the cones and inserted the toothpick.

The toothpick held up the Mentos until we were ready to pull the string and set off the reaction.

 

We started with one bottle and 4 Mentos. Then we did one bottle with 5 Mentos. We found the greatest fountain height with 6 Mentos so that became our standard.
Here's our finale:

The rest of the lessons in this unit only had worksheets and on-paper activities.