Fizzy Sparkling Lemonade Made With Science

Fizzy Sparkling Lemonade Made With Science Relax and enjoy a refreshing glass of lemonade while doing science! Heres an easy way to turn ordinary lemonade into fizzy sparkling lemonade. The project works on the same principle as the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano. When you combine an acid and baking soda, you get carbon dioxide gas, which is released as bubbles. The acid in the volcano is acetic acid from vinegar. In fizzy lemonade, the acid is citric acid from lemon juice. Carbon dioxide bubbles are what gives soft drinks their fizz. In this easy chemistry project, youre simply making the bubbles yourself. Fizzy Lemonade Ingredients You could do this project with any lemonade, but if you make your own it wont end up insanely sweet. Its up to you. For the lemonade base you need: 2 cups water1/2 cup lemon juice (contains citric acid and a smaller amount of ascorbic acid)1/4 cup sugar (sucrose) Youll also need: sugar cubesbaking soda (sodium bicarbonate) Optional: toothpicksfood coloring Make Homemade Fizzy Lemonade Mix together the water, lemon juice, and sugar. This is tart lemonade, but youll sweeten it in a bit. If you like, you can refrigerate the lemonade so you wont need to add ice to chill it later.For kids (or if youre a kid at heart), draw faces or designs on sugar cubes using toothpicks dipped in food coloring.Coat the sugar cubes with baking soda. You can roll them in the powder or shake sugar cubes in a small plastic bag containing baking soda.Pour some of your lemonade into a glass. When youre ready for the fizz, drop a sugar cube into the glass. If you used food coloring on the sugar cubes, you can watch the lemonade change color.Enjoy the lemonade! Expert Tip Another option, besides food coloring, is to paint the sugar cubes with an edible pH indicator. The indicator will change color according to whether its on the powdered sugar cube or in the lemonade. Red cabbage juice is a good choice, but there are other options you can find in your kitchen.Any acidic liquid will work for this project. It doesnt have to be lemonade! You could carbonate orange juice, limeade, grapefruit juice, or even ketchup (maybe not so tasty, but it makes a nice volcano). Got another lemon? Use it to make a homemade battery.