Mad Science Monday!

    So what do you do with leftover Valentine's Day candy? Have fun with it!!
    The one candy that we have leftover from Valentine's Day that no one in the house particularly likes are Brach's Candy Conversation Hearts. (The other Conversation Hearts that I prefer are the ones made by Wonka SweetTarts.)
   I had seen several ideas on Pinterest (of course) of different experiments that can be done with a few simple ingredients and some candy hearts. I knew it was something that my little munchkin might enjoy. So I took a stab at two different experiments.
     Both experiments called for 4 simple ingredients:
     Baking Soda, Vinegar, Candy Hearts and water.
     The first idea came from Preschool Inspirations.

 Fizzy Candy Hearts

Each heart in the ice tray was filled with some baking soda.

She dropped a candy heart into each heart mold.

Then using a medicine syringe (a dropper would be easier to use but I couldn't find one in the house), 

she dropped in some vinegar with some help from daddy. 

The result was quite a bit of rising bubbles in each mold...and we had Fizzy Hearts!

The second experiment was called:

Dancing Candy Hearts

The idea I found came from  Inspiration Laboratories.

This one started as it was supposed to and then my son got involved and made it more interesting!

For this one, we needed the candy, a bowl (one with a bit of height), baking soda and vinegar.

We mixed the baking soda and water in the bowl.  

She then tossed in some candy hearts.

 There was a little bit of fizzing. 

.

She wasn't thrilled so she added in some more baking soda to get a little more fizzing and bubbles going.

(She was excited, looking more and more like a little mad scientist!)

    And then things got a little more interesting as the little munchkin added in more vinegar from a cup to see what would happen.

    The result was the candy hearts were bopping up and down and flipping over in the bowl! They really did look like they were dancing! The pictures I took do not do the experiment any justice.
    If you vist the link from Inspiration Laboratories, there is a video posted of the Dancing Hearts.

    Then big brother joined in and added a whole lot more vinegar and baking soda and really got the excitement going! 

Check out the looks on her face! 

Pure amazement!!

It was so much fun! 

Here is the step by step procedure that we followed, as posted on Inspiration Laboratories:

1. Mix 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda in 1 cup of water. Add to container. Add enough baking soda and water solution to make liquid level at least a few inches high.
2. Measure out 1/4 cup of vinegar.
3. Add few candy hearts to your baking soda and water solution. Observe the bubbles.
4. Slowly add 1/4 cup of vinegar to your baking soda, water, and candy hearts.
5. Watch the candy hearts rise and fall. (They appear to dance around the container doing flips and all sorts of fun stuff.)

Inspiration Laboratories has some very cool ideas and I am actually thinking we might do more fun and exciting science experiments like this and create a Feature Post called:

 Mad Science Monday!