1 of 1

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

poured it into one of the four-ounce containers, and set the container in the bowl. Then I put eight drops of the blue food coloring into the vinegar, and stirred it with my spoon. After that, I placed the baking soda in the vinegar, taking pictures all the while. I recorded what happened, and then repeated the process of measuring, moving, coloring, and adding things to the vinegar twice, once for the Pepto-Bismol, and once for the Tums, adding slight variations such as stirring, in order to coaxes a reaction, and timing how long it took for the precipitate left in the liquid to settle. My mother, who was helping me, decided to taste all three of the concoctions too.

As for the results of my experiment, the Pepto-Bismol turned out to have a very unexpected reaction. In fact, there wasn't much of a reaction at all until I stirred it thoroughly with a whisk, and even then, it produced very little foam, although the foaming lasted for around four minutes, and the precipitate left in the solution took two hours to settle. The taste and smell were wretched, a sweet, yet sour taste that made me gag. The sourness must have been due to left over acid. This reaction is not what I expected at all. The Tums' reaction was rather surprising too. At first, it didn't do anything, so I tried stirring it with a spoon. All of a sudden, it started foaming, slowly, but surely. The foam produced was oddly stiff and little clumps of un-dissolved powdered Tums hung, suspended within and throughout the stubborn bubbles. This solution too had a precipitate in it that took about thirteen minutes to settle to the bottom, and the end result had a strong vinegar-and-mint taste to it that was nowhere near pleasant. There was still a sour acidy taste to it, so I know that it too didn't neutralize much of the acetic acid in the vinegar. As far as the reaction between the ever so clich vinegar and baking soda, all went as expected, a small outburst of angry foam, only lasting a few seconds, however, when my mom tasted it, it was very mild. It tasted like weak salt water, and all the sourness was gone, meaning that a lot of the acid in the vinegar was neutralized.

Learn more about this author, Emily Washington.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about Experiment: Finding the best antacid?
We want to hear your view. Write now!