Wednesday 28 January 2015

The Volcano Experiment

volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com

My daughter came up to me Friday morning and asked "Mommy what do you use in Chinese noodles?" 
I did not get her question at first. I answered "Soy sauce, dear."
She said "No, no, mommy! It looks like water and tastes sour, smells bad too."
Then I got to what she was asking about, "Its vinegar. Why are you asking? Do you want momma to cook noodles?"

She shook her head to a no and told me she wanted to make volcanoes??!!

VOLCANOES?
My daughter has been learning about volcanoes in her exploration room at her school for the past two days, and took fancy to the volcano experiment.

So, that's what all this was about.

Now what do I do? Remembered this science class experiment from long ago.  So packed up the ingredients and buckled up my 4-year-old in her car seat and off we went to learn more and have fun.

No, no I did not take her to see a volcano. There's nothing remotely resembling a volcano in Dubai.

We headed to the beach in this beautiful winter morning.
See what happened next.

DO NOT FORGET THE INGREDIENTS:

Baking Soda
Water 
Vinegar
Red food coloring
Dish washing liquid
Tomato Ketchup
Empty bottles or cups


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com

Let's build the volcano first.
All we had to do was dig up a bit of the beach sand and plant the cup/bottle firmly into it. Then build up the volcano, just like you would do a sand castle. You may add rocks, for a better effect, or even shells, if the little one fancies that.


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com

We then went on to make the lava/magma, which is a mixture of the following:
Water + Vinegar + Red food coloring + Dish washing liquid + Tomato Ketchup

We had this mixture filled and divided into about three bottles (for easily repeating this experiments, if my daughter wanted to go at it again and again).

volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com

volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com

Once done, pour in the baking soda and watch the volcano explode!!


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com
  • Baking soda reacts with the acetic acid in vinegar to produce carbon dioxide, hence producing the fizz. 
  • The dish washing liquid helps with the bubbles. 
  • Adding tomato ketchup (has vinegar as an ingredient) gets the reaction going slow, for a longer timeand realistic. 
  • And the red food coloring adds the right bit of color. 
  • The projectile of the lava also depends on the diameter of the mouth of the bottle used/ cup. 
  • You can build a volcano to simulate any of its types, may be conical, gently sloping or the dome shaped ones. This also affects the flow of the lava mix.
You can experiment with various ratios to get an oozing out lava or a volcanic explosion. I played it safe and had lava making its way out slowly for a longer time.

Perfect.


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com


Now hand over the rest of the bottles you have mixed to the little one and relax. Perfect weekend!


volcano experiment @colorsofourrainbow.com


The little one grasped the entire concept magma, lava and the volcanic eruptions. Here is a helpful video for your kids.




Caution : Highly messy. Use a tray to contain the mess. Or still better, simply head outdoors like I did :-)
Never leave little children experimenting chemical reactions alone. Always to be done under the watchful adult eyes. 

Have fun!
FARZ

This post is linked to 
The Kids Coop Link party @The Sensory Seeker.com
Link and Learn @ No time for Flashcards

Learning Kid link Up - 11 @ Tree Valley Academy.com

Tree Valley Academy

Let kids be kids Linky




Whatever the Weather - Linky 12


Monkey and Mouse

18 comments:

  1. Thanks very informative will try the experiment with my son

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    Replies
    1. Do try it out, Priyanka. Hope you both have fun!

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  2. This is such an impressive experiment.. I have to share this with my little one!

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    Replies
    1. Definitely! Beware of the mess though😊

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  3. Ha! see what kids have parents work on and discover! Great little experiment
    Thanks for sharing at the #Bestoftheblogosphere!

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  4. So true. Its altogether a new journey of discovery! Thank you for the sweet comment.

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  5. Oh this looks fun! My daughter would want to decorate the volcano as well :) . Next time I take my daughter to the beach, I'll bring the things to try this with her, and I think I'd like to try this with a different container like you mentioned, just to see the difference. Thank you for sharing with us at the Learning Kid link-up.

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  6. We have done a volcano experiment before, but I love the idea of taking it to the beach, making it look really real. What a fun activity.
    Thanks for sharing #LetKidsBeKids

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    Replies
    1. Yes it was real fun to be doing it outdoors, and most importantly very stress-free and mess-free for me :)
      Thank you for hosting, Karen.

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  7. What a great idea to do this on the beach! For that realistic effect - and no mess all over the kitchen table!

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    1. Exactly Claire! I just filled up a bottle full of the potion and handed it to my over-excited daughter and went on to admire the tranquility of the beach. Doing this at home would have me hovering over the mess and putting of my daughter :(

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  8. I LOVE this idea! A fantastic idea to take the experiment to the beach! I've never actually done this experiment, but I've heard about it many times! I'll definitely have to try this, probably in our tuff spot though next year.
    Thanks for linking up your fantastic outdoor education idea to #Whatevertheweather :) x

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your lovely comments! Hope you have a great time trying this outdoors.

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  9. Thanks so much for this information, what a creative little mind your daughter must have and a fun experiment -great step by step guide! #whatevertheweather

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    Replies
    1. Oh yes! Some question of hers puts me to thinking :)
      Thank you for your sweet comment.

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  10. This is brilliant. Thank you so much for the step by step guide as well! We never tried experiments like this in my school and I'm gutted we didn't. I'll definitely be trying this with my daughter when she's older. It sounds like you had a great weekend. Thank you for linking this post to #whatevertheweather x

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    Replies
    1. Oh the weekend was amazing! Got to try it out again. Learning has evolved over the years hasn't it. I'm glad our kids have a greater exposure to playful learning!
      Thank you for you sweet comments, Chloe.

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