Main content
Course: Exploratorium > Unit 3
Lesson 3: Ocean Acidification in a Cup- Introduction: This simple experiment illustrates ocean acidification ... in a cup!
- Set up your experiment: Tools, materials, and assembly
- What’s going on: Creating carbon dioxide gas that diffuses into liquid
- Challenge: Can you prove that diffusion happens both ways?
- Experiment tips
- Ocean Acidification in a Cup: Complete Activity Guide
© 2024 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Set up your experiment: Tools, materials, and assembly
In this video, Lori Lambertson of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute takes us step by step through everything you'll need to do the Ocean Acidification in a Cup experiment yourself.
Want to join the conversation?
Shouldn't you also have tied your hair back at1:01to follow lab safety procedures?(7 votes)
Yeah, she really should have done that.
Maybe she thought she didn't need to do that.
But carelessness CAN lead to injuries y'know. O.O(2 votes)
Could this also work for seawater aswell?(2 votes)
Why did u talk about the paper cup with fishes can't we use different paper cups ?(2 votes)- Why cant you directly add baking soda and vinegar to the solution ?(1 vote)
The point of the demonstration is to show how carbon dioxide in the air can be absorbed (diffused) into water, forming carbonic acid, which causes the blue indicator in the water to change to yellow. Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere (from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and in the exhaled air from living creatures) gets diffused into the ocean and is slowly making the ocean more acidic in the same way as the demonstration, the only difference is the source of the carbon dioxide and the fact that the ocean does not have the same blue indicator as the solution in the demonstration (therefore, the ocean will not turn yellow due to ocean acidification).
Adding the vinegar and baking soda directly to the blue solution would cause an instant color change because vinegar is also an acid by itself. The solution would change quickly to yellow and we wouldn't have a chance to see the effect of the carbon dioxide gas slowly diffusing into the solution. I hope this explanation helped!(3 votes)
What is ocean acidification?(1 vote)
1:01