Vinegar Volcano... learning science through art!

our new favorite " Did Dinosaurs Have Feather?" led us to a number of the fun activities we had this month.
The first one being "Vinegar volcano" of course!  What else can one think other than volcanos when talking about dinosaurs? The aim actually was to introduce a bit of science to our art world :) as it is basically an acid base reaction.

 And the excitement was simply remarkable! I am supper glad that the fist thing they learned about science is FUN!

 Though there are a number of tutorials avaible online we did it our own way ...ya with a bit of artsi touch to it ;) The procedures that kept us happily busy for almost two whole days are as follows

Things that we used along the way:

• A deep tray ( not the one in above pic)
• Empty 1/2 ltrs water bottle
• Old news paper
• Masking tape
• 1-2 cup water
• 1-2 pkts modeling clay ( easily available at all lading craft/book stores)
•  Food coloring
• Dish washing liquid
• Baking soda 
• Vinegar 

How to make the Volcano:
First we started making our volcano around the empty water bottle by wrapping old news paper with the help of some masking tape

Then placed the armature in deep tray started building the volcano limp by limp with modeling clay.... the lil sculptor in M loved this part.

But Miss Cleanliness refused to touch the "DIRTY" kept to her favorite activity of watering whenever required. It was a complete and fun activity in itself for all three of us and we spent the entire evening building our 'volcano'.

And then we decided to add a few smaller peaks :) while doing this the only thing that one has to keep in mind is 'not' to plug the opening in the bottle and TaDaaaaa!!!

We left this to dry overnight but didn't 'fix' the clay with anything ...the mountain has to dribble with lava somehow... doesn't it?

Now to make the volcano erupt and to let the 'lava' flow down the sides:

• The next evening we filled the empty bottle (with help of a funnel) with tap water.we wanted our lava to be red and fierce so added a few drops of red food coloring, too

• Add a squirt of dish-washing detergent and some baking soda (~2 tablespoons).

To make our volcano erupt over and over again:

• We poured some vinegar into the bottle (which contains hot water, dishwashing detergent, and baking soda). This is the Part that really took lil shefu's fancy :)

• Make the volcano erupt again by adding more baking soda. Pour in more vinegar to trigger the reaction.
  
  
  
  
  

• By now, you probably see why I used a deep dish. You may need to pour off some of the 'lava' into the sink between eruptions if your doing the experiment indoors.

• Any spills can be washed with soapy water. If you are using food coloring, it may stain clothes or skin, but the chemicals used and produced are actually non-toxic and the lesson obtained is priceless.

  LEARNING IS FUN!!!