Hey. I'm Melissa.

I'm Jam.

And I'm a chemist.

And I'm not.

And welcome to chemistry for your life.

The podcast helps you understand and do chemistry in your everyday life.

Well, I'm really excited today because Jim already knows this. But for you listeners at home, we have a guest Today, I'm so so excited. We have doctor Stephanie Ryan. She has a PhD in learning sciences, and she is going to be our guest expert for today. So my job It's gonna be wayward to switch that in itself.

It's exciting. But, also, I think that we're gonna have a great opportunity to learn a lot from Stephanie, And she has a lot of cool stuff going on in the chemistry at home, science at home realm on her own. So, Stephanie, do you wanna tell us some about what you do?

Yeah. I have an Instagram account called Let's Learn About Science, and I share science experiments and other learning because because I'm doing pre k at home right now, so we also do a lot of pretend to play and the things you do with a 4 year old. And I share those with parents, and I try to help make it A little less scary for them so that they're not as intimidated, and I like to show the science of the everyday. And I also share my book on there, the let's learn about chemistry. Do you

have a it's a board book, right, called let's learn about chemistry?

Yes. It's a board book for you can really give it to 0 and up. It's a board book so they can chew on it. And it's, it's meant to last in that way, and it has several layers to it that depending on what your age is, you might notice different things, when you're comparing. And so if one of the kids says, These are all things I can eat, and these are things I cannot.

That's evidence, and I'm fine with that. That's a great answer. It doesn't have to be that these are macroscopic, and this one is not. Like, it doesn't have to be that. So it's good for groups as well, like, if you've got multiple children.

Nice.

That's yeah. That's so cool. I'm very excited about that. And the, chewing, kids chewing on a thing, that's definitely important to parents. It is safe for chewing.

No. That's that's good. We have there's a book board book specifically that my son I sit you on a lot, and he doesn't know that it opens yet, But he loves to unless we open it for him. You know? But he loves to hold it and chew it, and I don't know what it is about it.

But if there's a few things in front of him, he'll grab that instead dead of the other things.

It just That's awesome.

Yeah. It's like, keep doing that. Keep reading for books instead of other stuff. That'd be great.

So we felt like having Stephanie on for chemistry at home was a perfect opportunity since that is what she specializes in. That's what she does all the time. So, actually, this week, Stephanie came up with some experiments for Jam to do instead of me, so I'm gonna hand it over to them.

So the first one you did was baking soda and vinegar, right, just in a bowl?

Yes. I did. So, Stephanie had sent me all these instructions, and so the first thing I did was put a little bit of, baking soda in a bowl, a clear glass bowl, Then added vinegar and just kind of added it in a steady stream, so that it was like a a sort of a trickle, but it reacted really strongly at the beginning. And then slowly, it reacted a lot less until it was just a kind of slightly bubbly, you know, clear liquid just like as if you'd poured, you know, like a seltzer water into a bowl or something like that once I was finished with it and and ran out of room to to pour more. But, and that went well.

That was cool. I mean, hadn't done, like, a vinegar and baking soda experiment in a while. And I I had Done some back in in the day, so I at least knew that it was gonna fizz, but, this is

be my next question. How did you know a reaction occurred? Because you said it reacted. Did.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I knew. Yeah.

I definitely knew. It it fizzed up a lot, and, yeah, I did that really strongly at the beginning. It had lots of bubbles. And then slowly but it still is bubbling all the way until I walked out of the room, so it's probably still very slightly bubbling as we speak.

That's so cool. So when I do this with Charlie, Charlie is 4, and I ask him about The solids, liquids, and gases. Uh-huh. So I say, what was baking soda? So is baking soda a solid, a liquid, or a gas?

Solid, I think.

Yes. I've been

I've been paying attention.

And then bake, vinegar is?

A liquid?

Yes. And then what was the bubbles?

Oh, that would have been gas.

Yeah. And then Where do you think the gas went?

Into the air, I guess, after the bubbles popped or or whatever. Yeah. Just went Up and distributed into to what we're breathing and walking around in?

Yeah. And so that's the then the next experiment I gave you was, like, how could you capture that gas? There's a more natural way to approach it with your kid, obviously, of, like, could you capture this and then they can build it themselves? But the way they capture it really easy at home is to have a bottle with a balloon on it.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I did next is you asked me to do the same thing, but put, it in a bottle and put the balloon on top. And I had gotten these the balloons I was able to find in a pinch were the the long balloons that you can tie into animals. And so I thought that'll be probably fine, but I also was a little worried because they're a little more, at least I thought, a little more difficult to blow up on your own.

Like, it came with a little plastic pump, and the tightness, I guess, of, like, the the rubber or whatever Seem, I was, like, worried that it that the the vinegar and baking soda wouldn't be able to inflate it. So I I put vinegar in a bottle, And I put a lot because I just thought I'll make sure that this will have as much material as it To work with as it can, I guess, and then put baking soda in the balloon? And it being a long skinny balloon, I wasn't really sure how much I was putting in. I just put it enough to where the balloon was full, but it's this very tiny, you know, column of baking soda, and then attach the balloon to the top of the bottle and turn it upside down. And at first, I just was seeing light fizzing, not a lot of craziness.

And then it started fizzing like crazy, lots of bubbles, and started filling up the balloon very quickly all the way to where the, like, bubbles and liquid and stuff were were getting up into the balloon. And so I had, like, a kind of chaotic periods of this balloon getting taller and taller and taller And going above my head and having bubbles in it and me holding really tightly to the balloon to make sure it stayed on The, because it it was had a, I guess, a couple ways that, like, the gas was getting out, and That meant that vinegar was also getting out everywhere too. So I think a reaction occurred in there somewhere.

I I hope that you got really good video of you panicking about this balloon maybe about to fly off the bottle.

I I think I did. It's It's funny because I just did not really make the angle of the camera quite to where it would catch the full height of this blue, but I think people will be able to see what was happening.

So when we did this with Charlie, we blew up the balloon first and talked about what is inside the balloon and how your lungs have carbon dioxide coming out. Like, you breathe that in. And that oh, here he comes. Sorry. So and then in the reaction, the carbon dioxide gas that was produced is the same.

Okay. I'm sorry. One second.

It's okay.

That's okay.

We get 2 guest stars today.

Come here, Charlie. You wanna say hi? No. Okay. Well, mommy needs you to keep watching your show.

Okay? I'm almost done. Okay?

No. I'm but are the quizzes going, Kim?

They will be. Yes. Yeah. So the question we ask is about the lungs and how that is also you blow it up, and that's actually carbon dioxide. That's not error like you think it is.

Yeah. And then this is doing the exact same thing, but with Baking soda and vinegar blowing it up with carbon dioxide. And the reason the balloon blows is because it captured that gas that you had originally said bubbled away into the air.

And that's cool. I I hadn't thought about the connection of just doing it, like, as it is. I thought it was more like like at least the way I initially interpreted it was like, oh, yeah. Okay. This is a review.

I've seen it bubble up and stuff, but the the way you connected it of, like, normally, this gas is just floating away. And now let's try to capture it and not let it get away. I like I really like that. I just I didn't initially think about it like that, but that's really cool.

Yeah. It's great to get kids thinking about things as a system, closed open systems. And even just doing that in general will help them understand other concepts like refrigeration and things like that down the road.

Right. And we also talked about that closed open system concept when We are talking about the enamel on your teeth. How if you have car soda, the carbonation, the bubbles can float away or they'll stay in, but with your teeth, that can also the enamel can be washed away or it will stay. We talked about something similar. So I feel like that's a concept that can apply pretty much anywhere.

Yeah. The teaching and systems thinking is so important. So then the other experiment, because we had the same materials, one of the things I like to do is I mean, you're We're in a pandemic, and I have a grocery order coming. I don't wanna have 7 grocery orders. So it's like, I have balloons in a bottle.

What else Could I do with this? And another one that also uses the system's thinking is respiration. And so you can use yeast and do that experiment, which is what I think you did as your other experiment.

Yes. So I took the the materials you asked me to get were, you know, bottle, balloon, and a packet of, fast acting yeast or whatever it's called, and some sugar and some warm water. So I put the warm water in the bottle first, Put the yeast in. Just kinda swirled it around a little and then added sugar. And then quickly, but difficulty.

I have to cut it down a little bit in the in the video because it took me a second to get that those little tiny thin balloons around the the bottle. But so I I got that on, and then I I swirled around again with the to try to get the sugar to to mix all in there well. And I noticed very quickly a lot of bubbling at the surface of the water, yeast, sugar mixture. And there was, like, a somewhat significant layer of that bubbling, when I left, and the balloon had not inflated yet. But I have a time lapse going now to see what might occur, as it keeps reacting.

But I was surprised at how quickly just a, like, a Significant layer of bubbles had started, after swirling it around.

And then what do you think is inside the balloon?

Is there a chance it would also be carbon dioxide,

or is

it something else?

There is. So it's, just like so, we consume sugar in our body and break it down with Oxygen, and we make carbon dioxide and water. And those are the 2 products that, come out in yeast, eat the sugar, And they produce the carbon dioxide, and you caught it in the balloon. And that's why bread rises when you use yeast because it's got the little bubbles. It's Producing these bubbles in it, and so that's a really cool one to share with your kids.

Nice. So you used to basically, like, little tiny us, Little tiny humans.

Yeah.

That's also kind of a great opportunity for them to realize that Some things are alive even that don't walk and talk and breathe and move around. You know? Plants are alive, yeast are alive, and We are live, and we're all respirating.

Absolutely. Yeah. And then I think you that you used warm water. I think that's something that, you could talk with kids about as well. It's like, why does it need to be warm versus cold?

Does it work the same? And it's the yeast. It's the yeast or these living organisms, and the warm water makes it act better. I guess it would be the reaction rate. Right, Melissa?

Because it's warmer.

Yeah. I would say the warmer water probably puts more energy in to help the reaction happen faster. And whenever kids ask questions like that, why does it have to be warm? I like to take that as an opportunity to make another experiment and say, Let's see what happens if we do it cold, and let their questions turn into the scientific investigation portion of things.

Absolutely. And the same with the baking soda and vinegar one. We did it once where it was like, well, what if it's a different liquid? And it was like, well, let's try it with water. Nothing happened.

Let's try it with lemon juice. Oh, what's the same about lemon juice and vinegar? You know? And so going through it that way, it's so great being able to I mean, I know I'm a scientist, so I naturally Tend to do it that way. Here's the 2nd experiment we could try.

But as a parent, even, you can you're at home. You have these materials, and why not? Let them Figure it out, and it's okay if they're wrong, because that wrong answer helps them build that understanding. It's more information helping them build it.

And I even think practicing thinking about things and then voicing it is something that I see my college students struggle with. They maybe are thinking things. Maybe this is the right answer, but they're afraid to even try because they don't wanna be wrong. But if we can foster an environment where they Get to try things out and they learn that being wrong is okay, then they will keep that attitude as they keep going through school and get to these higher and higher levels, and they'll be able to practice that critical thinking skills that those are gonna be valuable all the way into higher education.

Yeah. Absolutely. And then knowing that Not knowing the answer is okay. So I know when I went up through school, it was you need to get A's. You gotta know the contents.

That's all. It doesn't matter the concepts behind it. You just know the content. And, there's something with just I mean, the Internet and all the Experts are at our fingertips. You can email an expert and ask them a question.

Like, so when you don't know something, it's okay, parents, Like, to tell your child, you know, I'm not sure. Let's look that up. Let's figure it out together. And then it just shows that power of lifelong learning To your kid, that it's not adults are always right. It's that, well, you have evidence backing up your claim, so you're right.

Right. I think that's really important. That's a great point, Stephanie.

One thing I liked about these experiments, which you kind of already mentioned, is just the that you can use some of the same materials, but I also liked that you can't just really buy 1 balloon. And so you're gonna have multiple. So either for me, worried about messing the experiment up Needing to try again. Or or, like, having kids and wanting to try it a lot of ways. You've got you're gonna have multiple balloons.

You can't really just buy, like, a tiny amount of vinegar. You're gonna have, like, a Big jug of it. Same thing with baking soda. And then, and yeast. Like, it comes in the smallest amounts, at least, like, 3 packs of it or whatever.

And so, it felt like, oh, this there's a a lot of ways to just go ahead and do these experiments again either if I mess up or If a kid had had, like, a question or or, like, let's try it with the the cold water or something. It's like, well, we've got multiple options here. We've got a whole pack of balloons. We got a whole, you know, 3 packs of yeast or whatever. And so I liked that that this this had that built in.

There's a lot of ways to redo it without having to go buy more.

Yeah. And with a 4 year old, I'll tell you, even without doing a second type of experiment, we just repeated it because he loved it so much, wanted to do again.

Nice. Nice.

But, yeah, having those things on hand all the time. You there are so many things you could do with baking soda. I have so many experiments that we do with those. There's yeah. So it's just a great thing to have on hand, especially during a pandemic.

Yeah. If you're trying to keep your kids busy, this is a good one to let them go just all day playing with it.

Yeah. Add food coloring. Moe, you got Options.

Oh, yeah. Food coloring is a big hit with the kids in the science. And then one time, I remember I was doing some experiments with some kids that were friends of mine, and At the end, they were like, so you just kinda pour liquid around. You know? Like, that's we're gonna pour water back and forth.

And I was like, yeah. That is basically just what I do For my job is I pour liquid from one thing to another, and then I evaporate it, and then I redesolve it, and then add something else, and then Evaporate. There's a lot of that just pouring things back and forth.

Well, and that's, you and I off air had talked about, concepts For kids and, like, being a scientist that a lot of them are some of the simple skills like pouring. Kids can pour. You can Pour in your kitchen. You know? That doesn't have to be something you do in science class.

So I think that that's definitely, There's so many opportunities in your own house.

Well, thank you so much for coming, Stephanie, and I loved getting your perspective on the kinds of questions to ask kids. I think You brought it down to the level

of a

4 year old really well in how to sort of expand those concepts of solids, liquids, gases, where does the gas go? All that stuff is really great and things that I don't think to ask. So I I loved having your expertise on here. That was awesome.

Thanks for having me. This was really fun. I love sharing science experiments.

You're in good company. And so if you wanna learn more about ways to get your kids engaged or fun experiments to do with your kids, please, please, please go check out Stephanie. We follow her. We'll tag her. She's on Instagram at let's learn about science, and so you can find her on our follow list.

We're definitely gonna post her to our story today, so go check that out. And you can get her book, which is a really great resource written by an expert, more insight into How kids can learn about science. It's called Let's Learn About Chemistry, and it's available anywhere you buy books. It's on Amazon Book Store, Barnes and Noble, wherever you buy books, you can check that out as well.

Yeah. And it's available as board book and an ebook. And the ebook is affordable for the pandemic. I put it down at 99¢, so that should be helpful for parents who are stuck at home.

Yay. Thanks for that consideration. Well, thanks again so much, Stephanie, for coming and being on the show today, and thanks to all of you listeners for coming and learning about how to do chemistry at home.

This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Kleinie and Jam Robinson. And we'd like to give a special thanks to E Robinson who reviewed this