Baking Soda Powered Boat

We know that petrol, diesel, and even hydrogen can power cars, planes, and boats… but what if we told you that baking soda and vinegar can too?

Yes, the same thing you add to muffins can be mixed with another kitchen item to create a powerful reaction – just like real jet propulsion.

Get ready to set sail with the power of chemistry!

Before we get started, let's make some guesses about what might happen. Scientists like to make predictions, or hypotheses, before they do experiments. It helps them figure out what to expect and why things happen the way they do.

Have a go at making your best guess using the questions below:

1. Do you think the reaction will happen quickly, slowly, or somewhere in between?
2. Do you think the reaction will make noise, or will it be silent?

Tīmata! Let’s get started! 

• Plastic Bottle - ipu kirihou
• Baking Soda - pēkana houra
• Vinegar - winika
• Straw - kakau witi
• Bluetac or something to act as a boat keel (optional)
• A tissue or paper towel
• Scissors - kutikuti
• Hot glue gun or tape
• Tub of water – wai (option to colour with food colouring)

Let's begin!

1. Cut a small hole at the bottom of your plastic bottle (ipu kirihou) near to the bottle cap. Make sure your grown-up is watching!
2. Poke the straw (kakau witi) through the hole so it's sitting down quite low into the bottle. If needed, seal the hole with some glue or tape to make sure the only path out of the bottle is through the straw. If you are using bluetac to weigh down the bottom of the boat, now is the time to add it.
3. With the bottle (ipu kirihou) upright, slowly add vinegar in to the bottle until it's about a quarter full.
4. Next, spoon 2-3 tsp of baking soda (pēkana houra) on the tissue and wrap it up into a sausage shape.
5. Gently place the baking soda package through the opening of the bottle (ipu kirihou, sitting on top of the straw so it remains separate from the baking soda.
6. Screw the top of the bottle (ipu kirihou) on.
7. Shake up the bottle (ipu kirihou) and immediately place it into a tub of water (wai) and watch your bottle boat go!

Extra for Experts!

• Get creative and see what other baking soda powered things you make.
• Fit your boat out with some extra features, maybe a sail or a flag?
• Test what happens if you use more or less baking soda or vinegar?

1. What did you see when you shook the bottle?
2. What did you hear when you shook the bottle?
3. How did the gas created inside the bottle affect the movement of your bottle boat?
4. Why do you think the bottle needed to be sealed, except for the straw?
5. If you were to design a better bottle boat, what would you change or improve? 
   

Baking soda and vinegar are two special ingredients that fizz when mixed together!

Baking soda is a base, and vinegar is an acid. When you shook the bottle, they react because acids and bases like to balance each other out. This is called an acid-base reaction.

The gas needs to escape!

The reaction creates carbon dioxide gas, which builds up inside the bottle. But there’s only one way out—through the straw! The gas rushes out, pushing against the water. When something pushes one way, it makes the bottle move the opposite way. This is Newton’s Third Law of Motion—for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction!

Real boats and jet engines use this same trick!
Instead of baking soda and vinegar, they burn fuel to create a powerful push, called thrust. Your bottle boat works like a tiny jet engine, but instead of fire, it runs on a foamy, fizzy gas explosion!