In 1953 somebody invented a toy submarine that would dive and surface if you filled it with baking powder. In 1954 it became available as a “free inside” prize in Kellogg’s cereals.
Oh, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one of these! Only now I find out that you had to put baking powder in it–not baking soda! Baking soda won’t work. The sub will just sit there in the water, usually floating on its side. You know a submarine’s in trouble when it’s floating on its side.
Confound it! I know now what I did wrong. My father did it wrong, too. He filled the kitchen sink, put the dratted baking soda in the sub, and presto–nothing. We tried again and again, and the blamed thing never worked. Well, waddaya want for “free inside”? At least the cereal worked.
The confusion between baking powder and baking soda was so widespread, the WikiPedia article on this toy takes some pains to explain it. But there was no WikiPedia in 1955.
I’ve mistrusted submarine travel ever since. Thank goodness the Navy knows the difference between baking powder and baking soda!
So funny! But what a cool idea for a toy. This reminds me of the movie “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie can’t wait to get his secret decoder in the mail, but when it comes it is a big rip-off.
I had one of those as a kid, but I made the same mistake and it sank. The entire imaginary crew was lost. 🙂
Maybe you “boys” should have asked your Mom instead of Dad. lol