Neurobics

Kitchen Chemistry with Wriggly Worms

In a clear glass bowl or jar, mix one cup of water with a cup of clear vinegar (such as wine vinegar). Add a couple of drops of red and blue food colouring to produce a purple tint (you don't have to do this, but it looks more impressive).

Slowly add two tablespoons of baking soda, then drop in worm-sized strands of cooked spaghetti (not the tinned kind).

Your "worms" will wriggle, rising to the top and diving back down again.

When the vinegar and baking soda mix, they form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide, some of which attach to the spaghetti. The buoyancy of the bubbles bears the "worms" up to the surface, where the bubbles burst. allowing the spaghetti to sink. They'll dive up and down until there's not enough carbon dioxide left to support them.