Baking soda and vinegar react with one another because they both have a lot of energy that they don't want and they can help each other get rid of it! You might think this explanation is too simple, but it's true to what's happening. Before we go into more detail, let's be clear about our materials. The chemical name for baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Its chemical formula is NaHCO3, meaning it's made of one sodium atom, one hydrogen atom, one carbon atom, and three oxygen atoms. Vinegar is a mixture of acetic acid and water. Dilute acetic acid is the chemical name for vinegar, and its chemical formula is CH3COOH. From here on out I will write the chemical formulas in parentheses. Baking soda is a base, and vinegar is an acid. An acid is a chemical that wants to get rid of a proton, or a positively charged hydrogen atom. A base is a chemical that wants a proton. When you mix an acid with a base exciting things can happen because the acid is ready to give away its proton and the base is right there to receive it! Water is often added to acids and bases to tone down the intensity of this exchange. Water also acts as host in which the acid and base can break apart and react. In water, baking soda breaks apart into a positively-charged sodium ion (Na+) and a negatively charged bicarbonate ion (HCO3-). An ion is a charged atom or molecule. Acetic acid doesn't break apart on its own in water as much as sodium bicarbonate; it's mostly diluted so it's not as strong. When we mix baking soda and acetic acid in water together, acetic acid gives its proton to the broken-apart baking soda and together they form sodium acetate (CH3COONa), water (H2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2). These products are created quickly, and the carbon dioxide comes out as a gas, so the whole event is spectacular as you've seen! By reacting with each other, the acidic acetic acid and the basic sodium bicarbonate give up a lot of their energy and create things that have a lower energy relative to each other. The universe favors things at their lowest energy, and so we see a lot of exciting reactions involving acids and bases. Uhh I like science okay
