Online - Fizzing Christmas Trees

These fizzing Christmas trees are really fun and festive to make and there is some super science behind them as well for all the family to enjoy. Dr Pumpkin, the Museum's resident boffin, will show you how they’re done.

You will need:
- Some cookie cutters in Christmas shapes
- A dish or bowl with a bit of a lip on it
- Another small bowl
- A pipette (if you have one) or teaspoon
- Some food colouring in festive colours
- Baking soda e.g. sodium bicarbonate
- White vinegar
- Glitter - biodegradable glitter, if you can get it, to protect the environment

Step 1
Place the cookie cutter onto the dish or bowl with the lip.

Fill the cookie cutter with baking soda about 75% full and squish it down into all the nooks and crannies with your finger or a spoon.

Step 2
Add some drops of food colouring to look like baubles and glitter if you have it.

Step 3
Fill the small bowl with vinegar and get ready to do some science!

What do you think is going to happen now? Do you think a chemical reaction is going to take place? What will it look like?

Step 4
Drop the vinegar onto the cookie cutter with the pipette or spoon and watch what happens!

Cool eh? That was a simple acid-base reaction. Vinegar also has a scientific name, acetic acid. When it mixes with sodium bicarbonate it produces something called sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide. It’s the carbon dioxide which creates all the bubbles and fizzing! 

Carbon dioxide is the gas which gives us bubbles in fizzy drinks and which makes dry ice. Dry ice is -78 degrees and is used by F1 drivers to cool their cars and some have dry ice cooled water in tubes in their racing suits to keep them cool.

Have you had a go at our Fizzing Christmas Trees experiment? Head to our Facebook page to show us the results - don’t forget to use the hashtag #ExploringBMM.