Imaginative Teaching Resources & Inspirational Career Ideas from the Chilled Food Industry
Bathbombs
How about making one as a present for someone who loves to relax in the bath? These are fun to watch fizz in the water and are really easy to make at home with your store cupboard science background!
We tried some of the many easy to make recipes (you’ll find some here, at external sites BBC Good Food and at Frugal Family) including one – using a mix of citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and dried lavender and essential oils. Just right for bathtime! Some have used cornflour and some didn’t – we didn’t really find a difference when we made them! Just be sure not to get your mix wet when putting them together as otherwise you will start the reaction now instead of in your bath!
The Why
When you place the bath bombs in the water, it triggers a reaction between an acid (in this case citric acid which is found in citrus fruit) and a neutralising substance known as the base – which here is sodium bicarbonate. When mixed together these dry ingredients are stable but when placed in the water they react together to produce carbon dioxide which is the fizzy bubbles you see forming. The reaction helps to break up the bath bomb, releasing the items and fragrance.