Year 5 have been learning about changing states and materials in our science lessons. In today’s lesson (as it is science week!), we were learning about reversible and irreversible changes.

We understood that reversible changes are something that you can change back to its original form through: sieving, filtering, evaporating and through magnets.

Irreversible changes are things that cannot be undone or changed back to its original form for example, scrambling eggs, melting a candle, or baking a cake.

For our experiment today, the children had three ingredients: bicarbonate soda and and vinegar. The children predicted what would happen when the bicarbonate soda is mixed with the vinegar – they came up with the idea that it would fizz. We tested our predictions through the experiment where we put a tablespoon of bicarbonate soda inside a balloon and placed the balloon on top of a bottle that was filled with vinegar.

Our results showed that a chemical reaction occurred with the bicarbonate soda and the vinegar, producing a gas and changing its state. As a result, the balloon blew up! This is an irreversible change.