The purpose of this easy experiment is to collect limestone and then, chemically remove it.
Things Required:
Small baby food jar
Vinegar
Limewater (See experiment Making Limewater for instructions on preparing limewater.)
Directions:
Fill the jar with limewater. Leave the jar open and allow it to sit undisturbed for seven days. Pour out the limewater. Observe the white crust around the inside of the jar. Fill the jar one-half full with vinegar. Watch the changes that occur.
This Is What Happens:
A white crust covers the inside of the jar. The material in the white deposit reacts with the vinegar to produce bubbles. Large pieces of the crust fall away from the walls of the jar and dissolve in the vinegar. Within 5 minutes the glass touched by the vinegar is clear. The crust not touched by the vinegar remains on the glass.
Science Behind It:
Carbon dioxide in the air mixes with the limewater and the white crust called limestone is formed. Limestone has the chemical name of calcium carbonate. When calcium carbonate is mixed with vinegar, a reaction takes place in which the bubbles of carbon dioxide are produced.
