This lesson
begins with a design challenge: to invent a small device that could rescue a
cell phone that accidentally falls into water. A self-inflating balloon might
be able to act as a flotation device to keep a cell phone from sinking or bring
it up after it sinks. Students conduct a pair of chemical reactions to
determine which of two acids react with baking soda to produce the most carbon
dioxide gas and apply this to the flotation problem.