How to Blow Up a Balloon With Vinegar

If blowing up a balloon is too hard, try inflating it with vinegar and baking soda.

Manpower's not the only way to inflate a balloon--you can blow up a balloon with science. Baking soda and vinegar combined together creates gas bubbles. As the molecules in gases are farther apart than the molecules in solids or liquids, gases take up more space. So, when you combine baking soda, a solid, with vinegar, a liquid, inside an enclosed space, such as a plastic bottle topped with a balloon, the gas created expands and inflates the balloon. Follow these simple steps to create your own experiment of blowing up a balloon with vinegar and baking soda.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic bottle
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Funnel
• Balloon

Instructions

1. Pour a few tablespoons of vinegar into the bottle.

2. Pour a few teaspoons of baking soda into the balloon, using the funnel.

3. Stretch the mouth of the balloon over the neck of the bottle. Create a tight seal.

4. Lift up the balloon so that the baking soda falls into the vinegar in the bottle. Watch the balloon inflate.

Tips & Warnings

• The balloon may explode, so wear protective eyewear.

References

• "Exploratorium"; Balloon Blow-Up; 1998
• "City Utilities of Springfield"; Balloon Blow Up; 2011