


Make raisins bounce up & down with this chemical reaction

Suitable For

Grade 4



Time Required

 <12 Hours



What’s it about?

‘Density’ is a physical property that all matter possess and can be used to compare two substances that have the same ‘volume’, but their ‘mass’ is not the same. Objects with more weight or ‘mass’ per given volume is ‘denser’ than objects with less ‘mass’ per the same volume. Both the ‘density’ and the ‘shape’ of an object affect whether it will float or sink in water. Let’s test if this is true with the following science experiment:

Topics covered

Density, Carbon dioxide

What will I need?


Procedure (Method)


How does it work?


The bubbles in the fizzy mixture are a gas called ‘carbon dioxide’. This science experiment works, because when the vinegar and baking soda are mixed together, a chemical reaction takes place and ‘carbon dioxide’ gas is formed. When the raisins are dropped in the jar, they sit at the bottom and start to collect bubbles in their cracks and creases – the bubbles are lighter or less ‘dense’ than water and they lift the raisins up to the surface.

When the raisins with the bubbles reach the surface, many of the bubbles of gas escape into the air and the raisins quickly become too heavy for the remaining bubbles to support, and the raisins sinks back to the bottom. This process is repeated several times until most of the carbon dioxide gas has escaped out of the mixture.

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