Kitchen Chemistry
Fizzing, curdling and colour changes with things from the grocery store. Students gather evidence of new substances, weigh a reaction in a sealed bottle, and turn red cabbage into an acid detector.
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3 lessons in this unit
Lesson 1 · 50–60 minIs it a new substance?Teams run six quick kitchen changes, from dissolving sugar to curdling milk, and record properties before and after. They sort each change as physical or chemical using evidence, and find out why a single clue like bubbles or a colour change isn't proof on its own.
Lesson 2 · 50–60 minWhere does the mass go?Teams weigh baking soda and vinegar reacting in an open cup, then in a capped pop bottle. The open cup gets lighter and the capped bottle doesn't, until they open it. Students use atoms to explain why mass is never lost in a reaction, only let out.
Lesson 3 · 50–60 minCan red cabbage tell acid from base?Students add purple cabbage juice to safe household liquids and watch it turn pink, purple, blue or green. They build a colour scale, sort the liquids into acids and bases, identify two mystery liquids, and watch an acid and a base cancel each other out.
Students work like chemists with kitchen supplies. They sort a set of changes into “same stuff” and “new stuff” using evidence, weigh baking soda and vinegar reacting in an open cup and in a capped bottle, and make a colour-changing indicator from red cabbage to test household liquids.
By the end of the unit, students can tell physical from chemical changes using evidence rather than guesses, explain with atoms why mass is conserved even when a gas seems to vanish, and sort common liquids into acids and bases. Everything used is food-safe or a mild household product; goggles are worn whenever liquids could splash.