Bubbly Soda Science: Weekly Science Activity

By Amy Cowen on March 31, 2015 1:00 PM

Green food coloring added to a glass of seltzer water

Making your own carbonated beverage can be a lot of fun. How much fizz do you like? What flavor? How sweet? The process of carbonating water and serving up a custom beverage is easier than ever before thanks to commonly available household devices like Sodastream®. But a pressurized approach to creating a carbonated beverage is not the only way to prepare a refreshing soda-style drink.

With a few simple ingredients, students can experiment with mixing up their own soda-style beverages at home using sodium bicarbonate and citric acid mixed with water. Experimenting with the quantity and ratio of these ingredients lets students observe the chemical reaction that occurs. Taste testing the beverage that results from different ratios of the ingredients makes the whole process even more fun. Mix in a sweetener or natural flavor (like lemon juice), and see if you can find the perfect balance of ingredients for your taste buds, not too fizzy, not too gritty, not too sweet. Can you find the "just right" combination? Does everyone in your house agree? Find out with this easy kitchen chemistry family science experiment.

You and your kids can explore this hands-on science activity using either the full project directions from Science Buddies or the shorter activity version: