6-7 yrs old
8-10 yrs old
11-13 yrs old
Climate & Environment
Geography
Science
Students will learn how natural carbonation happens along The Oregon Trail.
September 17, 2017
Soda Springs Overview
Students will observe what happens when a carbonated beverage is immediately poured out, and observe again after the carbonation has gone flat. They will research how carbonation occurs and why it happens naturally at Soda Springs without going flat.
This place is unlike anything else travelers have seen along this journey. People got so excited to drink the bubbly water in the springs that they occasionally drank too much and got sick. Try pouring a carbonated beverage into a clear glass. What is happening on the surface of the liquid? What about the bottom and the middle of the glass? If you came back in a few hours, does anything look different? Now, if you think about Soda Springs, does the carbonation there act different than the carbonation in your glass? Why is it different than the bottled, or canned carbonation we drink today?
The natural spring water, as it moves toward the surface, comes in contact with sodium carbonate in the earth, which creates the bubbles near the surface of the water. Soda Springs won’t stop bubbling until all of the sodium carbonate stops coming in contact with the water. Our canned, or bottled beverages, have captured the dissolved carbon dioxide in the form of bubbles, but once it all comes in contact with oxygen, the bubbles will stop.
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