Middle School Science Fair - How to Make a Fake Volcano

The model volcano is a classic middle school science fair project idea that teaches two concepts at once. Students who build model volcanoes should understand the forces at work behind the volcano as well as the chemical reaction that makes their model volcano "erupt." The purpose of the model volcano eruption is to teach the concept of chemical reactions by showing what happens when vinegar and baking soda are combined. Here's how to make a fake volcano that really "erupts" for your next middle school science fair project.

Materials

Educational Science

1 box of modeling clay

Middle School Science Fair - How to Make a Fake Volcano

Scrap newspapers

Disposable baking pan

Empty half-liter plastic soda bottle

4 tbsp baking soda

1/2 cup vinegar

Liquid dish detergent

Red food coloring

Alka-seltzer tablets (optional)

Scissors

Funnel

Plain paper

Pens or pencils

Building the Model Volcano

1. Line the disposable baking tray with three or four layers of scrap newspaper. The newspaper will help hold the model volcano in place and protect the baking tray and the floor.

2. Place the empty soda bottle in the middle of the tray. Now it is time to mold a model volcano out of the clay. Look at pictures of volcanoes until you have a good idea of their ideal shape. Volcanoes are pretty much just mountains with an open crater where the lava escapes, but you can use your creative skills to build any size or shape volcano you want, as long as it fully contains the empty soda bottle.

3. Using your plain paper and pens and pencils, draw people, buildings, and other things to be destroyed by the "lava" that will eventually erupt. Leaving a small tab at the bottom of each drawing (at least a half inch), cut out the buildings and other things you draw. The tab will be used to hold the drawings in place on the volcano itself, as the drawing are overcome by the "lava."

4. Attach your drawings to the volcano itself using the half-inch tabs. The drawings of people and buildings and other things will stand straight up out of the model clay.

5. Now that your volcano is built, you can start the model eruption. Since your model clay will be soggy and ruined after your eruption, don't try to cause the eruption until it is time to present the project.

Eruption

1. Add a few drops of red food coloring to the bottom of the soda bottle. How much you use depends how red you want your lava to be.

2. Fill the empty bottle with warm water using your funnel. Stop when the water is three inches from the top of the bottle.

3. Place six or seven drops of liquid detergent into the bottle.

4. Pour the baking soda into the bottle using your funnel.

5. Add the vinegar to the mixture with your funnel. If you want a longer eruption, you can toss in an Alka Seltzer tablet at the same time. Remove the funnel as fast as you can to let the chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda happen quickly.

Middle School Science Fair - How to Make a Fake Volcano

Randy Ray is writer and editor at AskDeb.com --where real people give answers to your questions.

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