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The finished product—a ghost glove!

Make a ghost glove

Impress your friends with this cool science
experiment from the Nat Geo Kids book Try This!

P H OTO G R A P H S B Y M AT T H E W R A KO L A

Make a 'ghost glove' by mixing and

splitting carbonic acid! This experiment is
guaranteed to get you excited about
chemical reactions. This is a multistep
reaction. Vinegar is acetic acid, and baking
soda contains sodium bicarbonate, a base.
They don’t just mingle when mixed—their
molecules rearrange into something else.

WHAT TO EXPECT
As the baking soda reacts with the vinegar,
it forms bubbles that inflate the glove.

YOU WILL NEED

vinegar

baking soda

a glass

a surgical glove

STEP 1

Pour three tablespoons (45

milliliters) of vinegar into the glass.

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STEP 2

Spoon two teaspoons (10

milliliters) of baking soda into the
glove. Hold the glove by the wrist
and shake the baking soda down
into the fingers.

STEP 3

Holding the fingers of the glove

shut, stretch the wrist of the glove
over the mouth of the glass.

STEP 4

Pull the glove up straight to let the

baking soda fall into the vinegar
and observe what happens.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

When sodium bicarbonate combines with
acetic acid, they form carbonic acid, which,
in the second part of the reaction, divides
into carbon dioxide and water. The carbon
dioxide bubbles up, inflating the glove. At
the end sodium acetate is left in the jar.

TEXT FROM THE BOOK TRY THIS!

COPYRIGHT © 2014 KAREN ROMANO
YOUNG

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1 :1 6

G H O ST G LOV E
Make a ghost out of a glove and a few other household
items to freak out your friends.

TRY THIS

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