Soda Pop Fire Extinguisher

We used one of yesterday's birthday candles, to perform a follow up experiment, dealing with carbon dioxide. From our "ghost" bubbles experiment, we learned that carbon dioxide is heavier than air.

Today, using a bottle of soda pop, and the birthday candle, I demonstrated to the children, that carbon dioxide is not combustible.

First, I stood the candle, with a small lump of play dough, in a bowl. Then, I lit it, and we waited for it to burn down, into the the bowl. We needed the candle to be short, because we knew the gas would sink, into the bowl.

While the candle was burning, we drank most of the pop, leaving a small amount, of still fizzy soda, in the bottle. We reviewed the fact, that the fizziness is caused by carbon dioxide. We've experimented with that before, too. Click, here, or here, to read about it.

Finally, when the candle was getting low, but burning well, we shook the bottle, and opened it next to the candle.

Our flame dimmed, but didn't go out, so we tried the whole thing over again, but this time used a two liter bottle of Coke Zero, that was less than a quarter full.

At, first it looked like nothing was happening, but while we were discussing the possibility of the pop being too flat, the flame began to dim, and die out, right in front of us.

It didn't flicker, like it does when you blow it out, but instead, just got smaller, and dimmer, and then snuffed out, as the gas settled over it.

It's great to be a homeschooler.