No...
Baking soda is not at all similar to tapioca starch, so you would get a very different result if you replaced one with the other. A more logical substitution for tapioca starch would be corn starch.
tapioca starch
You would use potato starch and water
You can use 4 teaspoons of quick cooking tapioca OR 1 tablespoon corn starch in place of 2 tablespoons flour for thickening.
I USE THE MINUTE TAPIOCA ( IN THE RED BOX AT GROCERY STORES)& MAKE IT WITH SPLENDA. THIS DOES NOT RAISE MY BLOOD SUGARS ANY MORE THAN SUGER-FREE PUDDING. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PEARL TAPIOCA THAT NEEDS SOAKING FOR LONGER PERIODS OF TIME.
When you look at tapioca pearls, they do somewhat resemble fish eggs. However, they are made from a South American root starch. They are basically plant material, not roe. The pudding itself does use ordinary every day chicken eggs in the recipe, along with the tapioca, milk, sugar, and vanilla.
i need the tapioca
You can use lemon juice. For a better result use pure lemons :)
Yes! in many recipes!
YOu can use any of these to thicken sauces (or pie filling) - xanthan gum guar gum arrowroot starch cornstarch ground flax seeds tapioca starch potato starch
If you're baking, cornstarch is mainly a thickener, so you could try adding other thickeners: depending on what you're making, you could try potato starch, tapioca starch, etc.