Student slideshow: English | Spanish

Teacher printout: English & Spanish

These readings will get students thinking about the gases that are all around us.

• The engine of a car uses a series of small explosions to turn fuel into motion. Wonderopolis, a site that answers intriguing questions, explains how.
• What common gas do Swiss cheese and Pop Rocks have in common? Read this article from Kids Discover to find out!
• Way up in the air discusses how dust from outer space helps scientists figure out what the Earth’s atmosphere was like long ago. This article is free with registration on Newsela.
  

Follow these instructions, to fill a balloon with carbon dioxide, the same gas that filled your plastic bag. Try the experiment, and then:

• Draw a picture that shows what makes the balloon inflate.
• Predict what will happen if you pinch the neck of the inflated balloon, take it off the bottle, then let it go. Draw a picture that shows what’s happens when you do that — and why it happens.
  

If you have time, experiment to figure out what ratio of baking soda to vinegar produces the most gas (and the biggest balloon).

Picture discussion: A three-part discussion of the bubbles that make cakes rise. (Part 1, part 2, & part 3)