Graphic- Find Out Why, Vol.3, No. 4
 

Graphic- Try It!

Graphic- Kitchen Volcanoes

 
 

1. Build a Volcano. Put a thick pad of newspaper on your kitchen table or counter. Put your pie plate on the newspaper.

In the pie plate, build a big mountain out of clay or play-dough. Volcanoes are mountains that explode!
Use your fingers or a spoon to make a big hole in the top of the mountain, and place the cup inside the hole. Use your fingers and your imagination to dig out ridges in the mountain. Lava will pour down the ridges, just as it would on a real volcano.


Illustration of clay in a pie plate, resting on top of a piece of newspaper

  Graphic- border for list below  
  • An adult partner
  • Clay or play-dough
  • Several small
    paper cups
  • Pie plate
  • Measuring spoons
  • Measuring cups
  • Baking soda
  • Corn starch
  • Flour
  • Water
  • White vinegar
  • Dishwashing liquid
  • Red, yellow and
    blue food coloring
  • Newspaper
  • Big and little
    spoons
Graphic- border for list above
 

 

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2. Make Lava. When lava first comes out of a volcano, it's super-hot and almost watery. As it cools, it becomes thicker. Finally, it turns into rock. You'll be making lava that will turn into “rock” overnight. INGREDIENTS TO MAKE VOLCANO

In a one-cup measuring cup, mix:

  • 2 tablespoons of corn starch
  • 2 rounded tablespoons of baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons of flour
  • A few drops of red
    food coloring
  • A few drops of
    dish washing liquid

Add one tablespoon of water at a time until your mixture is a little thinner than toothpaste. Stir thoroughly. Pour the mixture into your paper cup, leaving about an inch at the top of the cup.

 

3. Eruption! Pour about two tablespoons of vinegar into the cup. Stand back and watch! Notice how the lava pours down the ridges you made in the mountainside, and pools around the bottom of the mountain.

4. The Changing Earth. Let your lava dry overnight. Then touch the lava with your finger, and notice how hard it is. The “lava” has turned into “rock!”

Remove the used cup from the volcano, and replace it with a new one. Make a new mixture of lava, but this time try using blue or yellow food coloring. Explode your volcano again. Let the lava dry, and notice what happens to the different-colored layers of lava.

If you like, you can keep making and adding more of the dry mixture to the cup, and adding more vinegar on top. Let the lava dry between each eruption. As the layers of lava dry and harden, they make your mountain bigger. This is very similar to what happens with a real volcano.


 

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