Ghouls are spooky enough at the best of times but what if there was a way that we could make our ghoul explode? And do our own chemical reaction too? Welcome to the Exploding Ghoul...

What do I need?

• White vinegar
• Toilet roll
• Baking powder
• Marker pen
• Sandwich bag
• Plate

STEP1 – Before we get started we need to turn our sandwich bag into our ghoul ready to explode. Grab your marker pen and your sandwich bag and show the world you’re 10 times the artist I am!

STEP2 – Pour some white vinegar into your sandwich bag so that there’s a layer a couple of cm thick at the bottom of your bag.

WARNING: Make sure that you explode your Ghoul outside!

STEP3 – Wrap up 3 teaspoons of baking powder inside a piece of your toilet roll.

STEP4 – Now for the slightly tricky bit. Hold your baking powder in toilet roll inside your sandwich bag but above the vinegar and pull the zip closed.

STEP5 – Release your toilet roll baking powder and watch as your ghoul starts to expand...it’s time to stand back!

What’s going on?

Why does your ghoul explode? This one is all to do with pressure.

Could you see the bubbles when you dropped your baking powder into your vinegar? Those bubbles tell us that there is a chemical reaction going on. Our vinegar is an acid and our baking powder is an alkali and when they mix together there’s a chemical reaction and carbon dioxide is given off.

This carbon dioxide fills up our sandwich bag until our ghoul can take it no more and explodes!

More Fun Please! - Experiment like a real scientist!

• How can you make your ghoul explode more quickly?
• How does adding more vinegar change your experiment?
• How about adding a different amount of baking powder?