Name: scott m guzik
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
Why do vinegar and baking soda react?
Replies:
Vinegar contains a lot of acetic acid; baking soda is sodium
bicarbonate. When sodium bicarbonate dissolves into the vinegar,
it reacts with water and forms OH-, which reacts with the acetic
acid (OH- is base) to form water.
Short it's an acid-base reaction.
Hope that helped!
topper
The fizz though is the formation of carbon dioxide gas.
Bicarbonate is HCO3-. The reaction:
HCO3- + H+ (from the vinegar) ---> H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
Carbonic acid quickly break into water and carbon dioxide:
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.