How to blow up a balloon with lemon juice

We have had lots of fun blowing up a balloon with lemon juice today, although it’s taken several attempts to perfect our technique.

Inflate a Balloon with Lemon Juice

What you’ll need

A small bottle or jar
Lemon juice
Vinegar
Bicarbonate of soda
Balloons

Instructions

Stretch the balloon a bit first, this just makes it easier to inflate.

Fill your jar or bottle about one quarter full with lemon juice.

Use a funnel to tip the bicarbonate of soda ( baking soda ) into the neck of the balloon.

Pour baking soda into a balloon through a funnel - Blow up a balloon with lemon juice

Place the ballon over the top of the bottle. When you’re ready tip the balloon up so the baking soda drops into the lemon juice.

Balloons blown up with lemon juice and baking powder

Watch the balloon inflate.

Another way to do this is to pour the baking soda directly into the jar and then quickly place the balloon over the top, but we’ve found this a bit trickier to do.

Extension Task

Can you set up a fair experiment to investigate whether vinegar, lime or lemon juice produce the most gas? How will you be able to tell?

Think about which conditions you need to keep the same…( amount of baking soda and amount of vinegar and lemon juice )

Why does lemon juice inflate a balloon

The balloon should inflate because adding the lemon juice/vinegar to the bicarbonate of soda creates a chemical reaction, when the two combine they create the gas carbon dioxide. The gas rises up into the balloon blowing it up.

This is an example of a reaction between an acid ( lemon juice/vinegar ) and a base.