Use Yeast to Blow up a Balloon

This is an simple science experiment that a young student of science can conduct on his own. The objective of the experiment is to blow up a balloon without using air from your lungs to inflate it. Instead you use the carbon dioxide that is produced by the chemical reaction that you will perform to do the trick.

Here’s a list of things that you will need to conduct the experiment. A small empty bottle made out of plastic. Clean and dry it before the experiment. A small balloon which is able to fit over the neck of the bottle. A packet of dry baker’s yeast, a little warm water and some sugar.

Have everything you need? Then lets get started. Fill up the plastic bottle with one inch of warm water.  Next add the packet of dry yeast and give it a swirl to dissolve it. Its the sugar’s turn to go in next. Again shake it around a bit before you place the balloon snugly over the neck of the bottle.

Leave it alone for about half an hour. When you return you’ll see that the yeast has reacted with the sugar and produced enough carbon dioxide to inflate the balloon. You can then repeat the science experiment with honey in place of the sugar to see how that works out.