How to make sodium acetate (hot ice) w/ vinegar & baking soda

Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make sodium acetate (hot ice) with vinegar and baking soda. They show the chemistry of making hot ice or sodium acetate from simple everyday vinegar and baking soda.

This reaction is pretty hard to get exactly right, so don't be discouraged if it fails the first time. Thoroughly read the comments and this description to avoid problems.

Just get 1 liter of clear vinegar and add in 4 to 5 table spoons of baking soda. Then boil the mixture down to 100mL to 150mL.

It should still smell like vinegar. If it does not, add an equal amount of vinegar and boil it back down, smelling again for the vinegar. Keep adding and boiling until it does smell like vinegar.

Put it into a jar while it is still hot and cover it. Let it cool down to room temperature and then you can do all those "hot ice" vids you see!

If it turns yellow or brown, that's okay. But don't boil it too far or it will burn.

If you have a weigh scale, its MUCH better to accurately weigh your baking soda depending on the percentage of vinegar. Use the following masses per 1 liter of vinegar:

4% vinegar use 56g of baking soda
5% vinegar use 70g of baking soda
6% vinegar use 84g of baking soda
7% vinegar use 98g of baking soda
8% vinegar use 112g of baking soda

Gram scales are very easy to buy online and on ebay. It is highly recommended you get one if you're serious about chemistry.

When adding the baking soda. Go SLOWLY or it will fizz over and make a mess.

What's happening is the vinegar contains acetic acid which reacts with the sodium bicarbonate from the baking soda to create sodium acetate.

You need to boil it down because the vinegar contains too much water for the sodium acetate to work as hot ice.

Brought to you by one of WonderHowTo's favorite scientists NurdRage.