DO IT YOURSELF Try our brilliantly simple home experiment to see raisins in a whole new light!

T urn up the volume – and try our brilliantly simple home experiment. Dancing Raisins !

You know all about raisins. They come in a packet from the supermarket. They taste sweet, and they go in porridge. But did you know that raisins grow on vines? Or that the vines they grow on are grape vines? How could that be, you say?

Well, here’s the funny thing. Raisins are just dried out, shrivelled up red grapes. This experiment might have been about how to make a raisin. After all, all you need is a grape and a lot of dry sunny days (or some other dry environment). But it isn’t. This experiment is about something far more exciting. You are going to learn to make raisins dance! Raisin experts Sophie and Jake

Ingredients

B 7.5 g bicarbonate of soda B 12O ml white vinegar B A handful of raisins (or sultanas – dried out green grapes – will also work) B A tall, clear glass

Instructions

1 Put the bicarbonate of soda in the glass.

2 Add the vinegar.

3 Step back and enjoy the show for a minute or so until it calms down a little and looks like sparkling water. 4 Turn on your favourite music (or not – it’s up to you).

5 Add the raisins. Smaller raisins generally work best.

6 Watch them dance! And keep watching. It can take a little while to really get going.

What’s happening?

When bicarbonate of soda mixes with vinegar, a chemical reaction produces the gas carbon dioxide (the same one that makes the bubbles in sparkling water). Gas is lighter than liquid so the bubbles rise. On their way up, some of the bubbles catch in the raisins’ wrinkles and bring them along for the ride. When the bubbles reach the top of the liquid, they pop and join the air above the glass, and so the raisins fall back down and go for another spin.