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Get that Gas Outta Here!Ph!
(Science; Yr 5, ACSSU077) Solids, liquids and gases have different observable properties and behave in different ways
Get that Gas Outta Here! Year 5 – Science
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Get that Gas Outta Here!Ph!
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Get that Gas Outta Here! What does gas do and why does it always find its way… out? This hands-on resource shows how gas pressure works inside a small vessel (like Billy’s little sister!).
Equipment:
Several balloons
Disposable plastic water bottle with a tight lid
Short piece of drinking straw
Hot glue gun (grown up eyeball alert) or heavy duty tape
Goggles
A teaspoon
Quarter cup measuring cup
Small plastic funnel
Bicarbonate of soda
White vinegar
Tub, sink or large bucket of water – or even a pool to float the boat in
Duration:
45 minutes
Location:
Outdoors
Notes:
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Get that Gas Outta Here!Ph!
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Jet-Powered Bottle
● Show students the plastic water bottle (bonus points for Billy’s face drawn on!).
● Take off the lid and ask students to listen. Did they hear any gas hissing out? (No.) What does that mean about the pressure inside and outside the bottle? (It’s the same.)
● Make a tiny hole in the bottom of the bottle, near one edge.
● Insert the short piece of drinking straw.
● Use tape or hot glue to seal completely around the straw so that the straw is the only outlet from the bottle (when the lid is on). If using hot glue, this is an adult step only.
● Have a volunteer measure 2 teaspoons (tsp) of bicarbonate of soda into the bottle (you may need a funnel).
● Have a second volunteer measure a quarter cup of vinegar into the bottle (using the funnel). Make sure the bottle’s lid is ready to be screwed on as soon as the vinegar has been poured.
● Pop the lid on – quick! – and give the bottle a single shake. The mixture should foam.
● Put the bottle in the bucket, tub, bath or pool of water. The gas created by the chemical reaction should expel out the straw, which makes the bottle move around the tub like a jet-pack!
Watch The One with All the Farts
Blow it Up Ask a volunteer to demonstrate how to blow
up a balloon for you.
● While they are blowing up the balloon, discuss why it’s inflating: concepts such as pushing air in and how the rubber lip prevents gas from escaping while the body of the balloon expands).
Ask where/ how the air can come out of the balloon. (It could burst, we could let it out.)
Ask the volunteer to let the air out.
● Explain that the gas that’s being held inside the balloon is under pressure.
● Gases move from places of high pressure to places of low pressure until the pressure is equal. (So we’re a bit like balloons when we fart, gas builds up and needs to be released into the world to equalise the pressure in our bodies.)
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Get that Gas Outta Here!Ph!
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Jet-Packs
● Students experiment making their own jet-packs, varying the amount of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar they use.
Discuss: where else in nature and in technology can we apply these principles? (Volcanoes, speedboats, burps!)
● Create a billboard in defence of farts!
Watch The One with the Poop Chart
Resource
◊ TED talks: Giulia Enders talks about the gut - https://www.ted.com/talks/giulia_enders_the_surprisingly_charming_science_of_our_gut