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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2000  > February  >
Chemistry for Everyone
Tested Demonstrations
Gas Me Up, or, A Baking Powder Diver
submitted by: Henry R. Derr
Department of Chemistry, Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, WY 82007

Tricia Lewis
Department of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701

Bretton J. Derr
McCormick Junior High School, Cheyenne, WY 82009

checked by: Tom Hanninen
Department of Chemistry, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530

Cover
February 2000
Vol. 77 No. 2
p. 171

Abstract

In this procedure, a pipet that repeatedly submerges and rises to the surface in a tub of water is produced from a beral pipet and baking powder. The diver uses the same principles as the "submarine" or "frogman" that were obtained with cereal box tops in the 1950s. More recently, various "sharks" using this chemistry have accompanied a candy product of the same name.

A weighted plastic pipet, with its tip sealed and the majority of its bulb end removed, is packed with baking powder and placed in water. In the presence of the water, carbon dioxide is formed from the baking powder, changing the buoyancy of the diver. The buoyancy of the diver oscillates between positive and negative as the amount of gas attached increases and then decreases at the surface of the water.

The procedure works well in outreach activities with children aged 4 to 40 and beyond. It was used with great success in a mall outreach program during National Chemistry Week. Visitors to the chemistry area were able to make-and-take a diver after testing it in a tub of water.

More Information
*  Citation
Derr, Henry R.; Lewis, Tricia; Derr, Bretton J. J. Chem. Educ. 2000 77 171.
*  Keywords
Demonstrations; Public Understanding; Acid-Base Chemistry; Gases; Outreach
*  History
Created:
Last Updated:
January 5, 2000
April 15, 2005
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2000 > February > Page 171


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