Fizz, Foam and Fantastic Chemistry – Year 4 Head to the Senior School Labs 

Year 4 enjoyed an exciting and educational visit to the Senior School for a special “Fizzy Chemistry” morning in the Chemistry Department on Thursday. 
 
The session began with a spectacular Diet Coke and Mentos demonstration, which sent a giant plume of foam shooting into the air and had the children laughing from the very start! Dressed in lab coats and safety goggles, the pupils then became scientists themselves, investigating chemical reactions using acids, bicarbonate of soda and universal indicator. 
 
Before beginning their own experiments, all pupils were equipped with protective lab coats and safety goggles, helping them to appreciate the importance of safe working practices in a laboratory environment. 
The children then investigated chemical reactions using universal indicator, acid and bicarbonate of soda. As the substances were combined, they observed an exciting and colourful fizzing reaction and discovered that the reaction produced water, a salt and carbon dioxide gas. 
 
It was particularly impressive to see the accuracy and care with which the pupils worked. Using measuring cylinders and pipettes, they measured exact volumes of acid, while top-pan balances, spatulas and weighing boats were used to weigh precisely 4 grams of bicarbonate of soda. The high level of concentration and responsibility shown by Year 4 was outstanding. 

The pupils also demonstrated excellent scientific skills by recording temperatures before, during and after their reactions. Results were carefully entered into tables, observations were colour-coded to illustrate the vibrant reactions they witnessed, and all data was plotted on graphs for discussion and analysis. 
 
The highlight of the morning was the spectacular rainbow fizz experiment, which produced a wonderful display of colours and generated great excitement throughout the laboratory. 
 
The children demonstrated excellent scientific understanding, superb behaviour and a remarkable range of technical skills throughout the morning in the senior laboratories, well done all.  
 
A huge thank you to the senior school Chemistry team for providing such an engaging and memorable experience, our Year 4 scientists left reflecting on their super morning.