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You are here: Home / Most Popular / Hopping Corn Science Activity

Hopping Corn Science Activity

May 31, 2014 by Sue Lively

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We have a really entertaining science activity today for little ones!  And – I bet you already have all the ingredients in your cupboard.  Follow our steps to make your popping corn become HOPPING corn!

Hopping Corn Experiment

This corn will hop up and down repeatedly in your container for over an hour.  It’s so much fun to watch (mesmerizing would be the best word to describe it) and it creates a great opportunity to talk about gases, liquids, and solids with your child.

You Will Need:

  • a clear glass container
  • popping corn
  • 2 1/2 – 3 cups of water
  • 2 Tbsp. of baking soda
  • 6 Tbsp. of white vinegar
  • food colouring (optional)

That’s it!  I told you you probably had it in your kitchen already.

Instructions:

  1.  Fill your jar with water and add a couple drops of food colouring.
  2.  Add your baking soda and stir well until it is all dissolved.
  3.  Add a small handful of popping corn kernels.
  4.  Add the vinegar and watch the corn start to hop up and down!

Onetime, my 3 year old son, really enjoyed this activity.  We measured all the ingredients out together and then he was responsible for adding them into the jar at the right time.

Talk about a terrific way to work on measurement concepts, listening skills, and practising patience too!
Pouring Vinegar Hopping Corn Although it wasn’t necessary to stir the corn once it was hopping, Onetime wanted to do this to see what would happen!

I always try to encourage Onetime’s natural curiosity with these type of activities.  I knew that the stirring wasn’t going to “mess up” the reaction – so my response is Go for it!  and What do you think will happen when you stir the water?  Let’s experiment!
Hopping Corn Stirring (All the extra stirring did was get the corn going a little faster for a bit!)

Basically the science behind the activity is that when the baking soda and vinegar combine, they react to form carbon dioxide (CO2) gas.  The gas forms bubbles in the water which circle around the corn kernels.  The bubbles lift the kernels up to the surface and when they get there they pop and the kernels sink again.

The “hopping” continues until the vinegar and baking soda have finished reacting.  For us, it lasted over an hour!

PLEASE PIN ME & SHARE THE FUN!

Hopping Corn Science What a fun activity!  We even kept our Hopping Corn jar on the table with us at lunchtime so we could continue to enjoy the view as we ate!

If you enjoy this activity, you may also want to try making a Hurricane in a Jar.  Make a Hurricane in a JarIf you’re interested in finding even more simple science experiments and activities for young children, check out our SCIENCE ACTIVITIES page.

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Happy hopping!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kavita says

    June 1, 2014 at 3:26 am

    Thanks for the fun experiment. we did it , it was fun ….

    • Sue Lively says

      June 1, 2014 at 1:24 pm

      That’s great Kavita! Thanks for dropping by with a comment!

  2. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    June 1, 2014 at 3:02 pm

    I can’t believe the hopping lasted over an hour! What a fun experiment!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 1, 2014 at 8:06 pm

      I was really surprised too Emma! We even left the corn, went for a bath, came back and it was STILL going!!! Thanks for dropping by!

  3. Ashley says

    June 3, 2014 at 8:45 am

    Another fun way to play with baking soda and vinegar!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 3, 2014 at 1:41 pm

      Yep – there are so many cool experiments to do with these simple ingredients! We’ve got another one coming next week too that changes colour! Thanks for dropping by Ashley!

  4. Tracy says

    June 17, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    My son loved this!!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 17, 2014 at 10:35 pm

      That’s great Tracy! Thanks so much for letting me know. We had so much fun too! Thanks for dropping by!
      Best, Sue

  5. Tricia says

    June 17, 2014 at 11:53 pm

    Love it!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 18, 2014 at 8:06 am

      Thanks Tricia! Hope you have fun with this! Thanks for dropping by!

  6. Leona Evans says

    June 18, 2014 at 1:13 am

    Thank goodness that the only thing I didn’t have is the optional food coloring! I will be entertaining my 4 year old tomorrow.

    • Sue Lively says

      June 18, 2014 at 8:07 am

      Thanks for dropping by Leona! Hope you have fun with this!

  7. Katie says

    June 18, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    Hi Sue, we tried this today and my toddler and preschooler loved it. Thanks for the fun idea!!!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 18, 2014 at 7:51 pm

      That’s awesome Katie! So glad to hear they both had fun! Thanks for dropping by!

  8. Amber says

    June 19, 2014 at 2:25 am

    We tried it at OSHC and the pop corn didn’t move :/ wonder why it didn’t worl

    • Sue Lively says

      June 19, 2014 at 2:00 pm

      That’s strange Amber. I’m thinking that maybe the baking soda was really old? Or maybe there was too much water in relation to the baking soda and vinegar? Was there a reaction at all? Were there bubbles – but they just didn’t lift the corn? Hmmm….something must have been different. We’ve done this a few times now and it always worked out really well. Maybe try again, but double the amounts of baking soda and vinegar. Hopefully that will work! Thanks for dropping by!

  9. Connie says

    June 23, 2014 at 3:06 pm

    We tried but could hardly see the corn due to the baking soda. How many ml of water are you supposed to use?

    • Sue Lively says

      June 23, 2014 at 3:21 pm

      Hi Connie – thanks for dropping by. I used 2 1/2 cups water with the 2 Tbsp of baking soda and 6 Tbsp vinegar. Hope this helps and that you try it again. It was really fun. Thanks for asking for clarification – I updated the post to show the amount of water. Sue

      • Connie says

        June 24, 2014 at 1:56 am

        Hi Sue! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my query! It is much appreciated. We will be trying it again later. Regards Connie

        • Sue Lively says

          June 24, 2014 at 7:44 am

          Great! Hope it works out for you!

  10. Laura says

    June 26, 2014 at 11:29 pm

    Tried it today since my 3yo asked for an experiment and I had nothing prepared. The popcorn didnt move but we did make a mess of water/vinegar all over the dining room. Still fun and my son played with popcorn and measuring cups for 30 mins afterwards!

    • Sue Lively says

      June 27, 2014 at 1:33 pm

      Thanks for taking the time to comment Laura! Glad you still both had fun with this activity. I’m not sure why it seems to work sometimes and not others. I think it may have a lot to do with how old the baking soda is because it does lose some of its strength over time. Sounds like you made the best of the situation! Kudos to you mom!

  11. Alicia says

    July 14, 2014 at 8:47 am

    That’s a good one! My kid will love it.

    • Sue Lively says

      July 14, 2014 at 9:20 am

      Thanks for dropping by Alicia – hope you guys have fun with this! We did! Sue

  12. Katie Pinch says

    July 23, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    Hi Sue, I LOVE this activity and my kids LOVED this activity when we did it. Thanks for sharing it at the Love to Learn Linky. I am so glad you will start hosting it right here on One Time Through every Thursday! 🙂

    • Sue Lively says

      July 23, 2014 at 10:21 pm

      Glad you guys had fun with it! Looking forward to joining in on the linky next Thursday! Have a great one this week!

  13. Patti Wall says

    August 24, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    Going to see if this might work with something other than popping corn, like maybe seashells with blue food coloring. What a neat idea. 🙂

    • Sue Lively says

      August 25, 2014 at 1:31 pm

      Great idea Patti! I’ve seen this done with raisins as well, but nothing bigger. Maybe those tiny little seashells? You’ve got me curious now! Let me know how it goes! Best, Sue

  14. Kimmie K says

    October 7, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    Awesome idea!! Thanks so much for sharing. My preschool class of older two’s are going to love this!

    • Sue Lively says

      October 7, 2014 at 2:27 pm

      Hope you have fun with it Kimmie! Thanks for dropping by! Best, Sue

  15. Meagan says

    October 25, 2014 at 9:33 am

    This is an excellent idea. I will be trying it with my kids soon. I pinned it and I would love it if you would link up at the Geeky educational link up!
    http://www.morethanacouponqueen.com/search/label/Geeky%20Educational%20Link%20Up

    • Sue Lively says

      October 25, 2014 at 11:07 am

      Will do Meagan. Thanks for dropping by and have fun with the hopping corn! Best, Sue

  16. Jennifer says

    November 15, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    We tried this today and I didn’t have popping corn so we pooped a bag of popcorn and used the left over kernels for the experiment. FYI – the kernels just float at the top of the mixture! Ha!!! We look forward to trying again after we buy popping corn! 🙂

    • Sue Lively says

      November 15, 2014 at 2:22 pm

      Thanks for the FYI Jennifer. You’re just building the kids’ anticipation! LOL Thanks for dropping by, Best, Sue

  17. Holly says

    November 18, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    Thank you so much for the experiment! Just did this with 1st graders and kindergartners, it kept 40 kiddos very intrigued! It really got them making observations and hypothesis! Will be doing it again with next years kiddos!!!

    • Sue Lively says

      November 18, 2014 at 9:58 pm

      That’s so great to hear Holly. It sounds like you guys had fun! Thanks so much for dropping by and taking the time to comment. Best, Sue

  18. Cathy says

    November 20, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    Help! We couldn’t get this to work! The potion overflowed as soon as we added the vinegar, and it made a huge mess! What did we do wrong?

  19. Sue Lively says

    November 21, 2014 at 8:36 am

    Oh no Cathy! I’m sorry things didn’t work out well for you. I think you must have had some very fresh baking soda. Did you try using a much larger container to contain the reaction? Was all the baking soda completely dissolved before you added the vinegar? I hope you try it again and have success! Hopefully it was a learning experience for the kids!

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