Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, I am doing the "Can You Change the Rate of a Chemical Reaction by Changing the Particle Size of the Reactants?" experiment and I am using the syringe, but I could also use the graduated cylinder. I am not sure how to measure the carbon dioxide though, am I missing something? The alka setzler dissolves but nothing happens in the syringe.
By the way, this experiment is the advanced version of the plop, plop fizz fizz experiment.

Hi science_asker,
Have you tried minimizing the air space in the bottle?
Also, please do confirm that you do have a good air-tight seal as soon as the tablet is dropped into the water.
Please let us know what you find.
Good Luck!
Willey

To all those wondering, I finished the experiment and it worked perfectly! For some reason the syringe never worked, so I went with the graduated cylinder. I measured the carbon dioxide through water displacement. Very interesting!