Conservation of Mass Lab Investigation

In this lab we had to figure out what was going to take place between two different reactions.  We also had to see if the mass of the materials would still be the same after changing the state of matter to gas.  We measured how much gas was given off by using a balloon. One of the two different reactions was pop rocks and soda and the other one was vinegar and baking soda.  To figure out if the mass has changed, we measured the vinegar before and after the experiment.  Ours was roughly the same at 50mL.  My hypothesis was that the vinegar and baking soda would give off more gas than the pop rocks and soda.  This was true because the vinegar and baking soda balloon was about double the size of the pop rocks and soda balloon.  This is shown in the picture below:

The vinegar and baking soda is the clear and more empty bottle.  The balloon is bigger than the blue balloon because it gave off more gas.  It is a large amount of gas because this is what a regular empty balloon looked like before inflating:

This was the vinegar and baking soda balloon before inflating.  What I learned from this lab was how both reaction released CO2.  One difference, was how one was a chemical reaction and the other was a physical reaction.  The pop rocks and soda was a physical reaction because both materials used were made with CO2.  This means that CO2 was only released because it was made in the product.  The vinegar and baking soda CO2 was released by breaking bonds.  The pop rocks were made with high pressure bubbles of CO2 inside and touching liquid caused it to release.  This applies to everyday life because soda and pop rocks are used everyday.  Also chemical and physical reactions are happening constantly also.  These were all common household materials and they all caused reactions.

       Our group had no problems while completing this lab.  I accepted my hypothesis and so did my group.  We all figured that since baking soda and vinegar are more simple and have no additives that it would have a easy more clean reaction.  This was correct since the balloon was so much bigger than the soda and pop rocks balloon.  We also figured since the pop rocks and soda had so many additives in them, that it would mess up the reaction.  This is also an extra picture of the soda and pop rocks reaction right after it finished:

As you can see this is a smaller balloon because it gave off less CO2.