Vinegar Reaction

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A very popular science experiment uses the reaction between baking soda and vinegar to model a volcanic eruption. Why does this reaction occur? It’s all because of the molecules that make up sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) and acetic acid (vinegar). Everything around us is made of molecules. Those molecules can be divided into atoms and the atoms can be divided into subatomic particles. Atoms contain 3 types of subatomic particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons. Protons are positively charged and are attracted to the electrons which are negatively charged. The neutrons are neither positive or negative, they are neutral and they hold together the protons in the nucleus(blue book). The identities of the things around us depend on these particles. For example, carbon has 6 protons and nitrogen has 7 protons(comp. book). Nitrogen only has 1 more proton than carbon, but the 2 elements are completely different. At room temperature, carbon is a solid(http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele006.html) and nitrogen is a gas(http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele007.html). How a molecule is bonded also affects the properties of a substance and, in turn, how it will react with other substances. An example of this is the famous reaction between baking soda and vinegar. If it weren’t for the elements in these substances and the particles in those elements, they would not be able to make the reaction that they do.
A molecule is a group of atoms that are bonded together. Some are covalently bonded and others are ionically bonded. For example, an organic compound is a compound that is covalently bonded(blue book). Because it is covalently bonded, it’s valence electrons are shared, instead of transferred, like an ionic bond. For examp...

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...O3 → H2O + CO2. This carbon dioxide comes out as gas bubbles that overflow the container, which is usually a volcano model. (http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalreactions/f/What-Is-The-Equation-For-The-Reaction-Between-Baking-Soda-And-Vinegar.htm)(http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemicalvolcanoes/ss/volcano.htm)

The amount and types of particles all create the identities of elements. Whether or not an element can react with another and the type of reaction that occurs all depends on how many protons, neutrons, and electrons its atoms have. Therefore, the reaction between sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid depends on the properties of elements they are made of, which depend on how many electrons there are in the valence layer. Next time you see a chemical or physical reaction, know that it all happened because of minute particles within the substance.

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