Build Your Own Volcano

Ready for some backyard activity – volcanic activity, that is! Here's what you need:

Materials

  • Baking pan or cover of a large bucket
  • Soda bottle (16 ounce or 20 ounce)
  • Moist soil or sand
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 cup vinegar
  • Red food coloring

Procedures

  1. Color the vinegar with red food coloring.
  2. Put the baking pan (or cover) on the ground and place the soda bottle in the middle of it.
  3. Shape the moist soil (or sand) around the bottle to form a mountain. Bring the soil to the bottle's opening, but don't get the soil inside the bottle.
  4. Pour the baking soda into the bottle.
  5. Pour the colored vinegar into the bottle

Watch red foam spray out of the top and down the mountain like lava from a volcano.

Why it happened

The baking soda reacted with the vinegar to produce carbon dioxide gas. The gas built up enough pressure to push the foaming liquid out of the top of the bottle.

Introduce your students to the reactions that cause volcanoes to erupt with this printable science activity. They create their own volcano using food coloring, baking soda, and other materials.
Grades
3 |
4 |
5 |
6
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