We are studying Stoichiometry right now and thankfully it is allowing us to perform a lot of experiments. The biggest one is Rocket Launch. You add vinegar and baking soda to a water or coke bottle, cork it, and watch the bottle fly. It is supposed to work just like this. However, an exploding bottle seems to make most 15/16 year olds very nervous. Not sure why they didn’t want to smell like a pickle all day? They would not take the proper amount of time to set the bottle on the cork and stabilize it before darting out of the way, so the bottle would fall over and shoot in the direction of the class… or at me… or back in their faces-my personal favorite. So for the rest of the day we changed the experiment to be Cork Launch! Much less mess.
We were doing our experiment outside all day, which was absolutely wonderful. I could not have asked for more beautiful weather! 75 degrees in January! Who would have thought? The day went off without any major hitches, and we had a blast! The kids were happy to be outside and got a kick out of the launching. I said the day went off without any MAJOR hitches, but I did have one slight malfunction! Some of the reactions took 20-30 seconds before launching the cork, and some reactions did not happen and needed some extra help. Shaking the bottle again or squeezing the bottle would help the cork pop! I went up to a bottle that seemed to need some coaxing and as I stooped down to proceed with shaking, the wind picked up and knocked the bottle over! This was just the catalyst the rocket needed to launch. And launch it did, IN MY FACE! I was soaked. And smelly. As soon as my kids decided that the only thing seriously hurt was my ego, they were laughing hysterically! They didn’t like my idea about “What happens in 6th period, stays in 6th period.” One boy even said it was already his facebook status. Wonderful! I’m just glad there were no video cameras. I won’t be making an appearance on youtube anytime soon!
This is the true story of a bulldog and a teacher, picked to live together and have their lives blogged. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.
The Real World Lampasas
The Real World Lampasas