Student Worksheet

Volcano Eruption - Activity Instructions

Let’s make a volcano and then watch it erupt! Spurt lava and enjoy seeing a simple chemical reaction take place.

Safety advice: Red food dye is a very messy ingredient to be using! Use gloves whilst mixing if you would like to keep it off your hands, and ensure that you keep this experiment outside to avoid getting red colouring all over your nice house or apartment. Be careful with mixing sticks to not get them in your eye as they can be pointy.

The earth is composed of three layers: the hot metal core in the centre, the red hot mantle surrounding this that is made up of both liquid and solid parts of rock, and the crust which is the cooler outer layer of the earth. Volcanic eruptions happen when pressure builds up in the mantle of the earth, and the magma pushes itself up quickly through the earth’s crust causing an eruption of hot lava. The lava then becomes hard and eventually a mountain is formed around the crack, just waiting for its next pressure release. Some volcanoes are dormant, which means that they aren’t likely to erupt and you can go and visit them. But be careful if it’s an active (could erupt) volcano as the lava is about 1200 degrees celsius which makes it way too hot to be around. Isn’t it lucky that we can make a simulation without all that heat and danger?

Part A: Prepare The Volcano!

Step 1.

In a container, first mix about a cup of vinegar with enough drops of red food dye to make some red ‘lava’. Set aside.

Step 2.

Cut a circle shape into the cardboard with the scissors.

Step 3.

Sit the cup in the middle of the cardboard with the open section facing upwards.

Step 4.

Place the foil over both the cup and cardboard base, fold it underneath so that it is in place.

Step 5.

Poke a hole in the top of the ‘mountain’ where the opening of the cup is.

Step 6.

Place a tablespoon or two of baking soda or bicarbonate of soda into the hole.

Part B: Ready, Set, Erupt!

Step 1.

Carefully place your ‘volcano’ onto a tray so that the spillage from the volcano is contained.

Step 2.

Get the previously prepared ‘lava’ from Part A, Step 1, and pour a little bit into the hole at the top of the volcano where the baking/bicarb of soda is. You can choose to do a small amount to start, then make a bigger eruption or vice versa.

Step 3.

Repeat Step 2 until you run out of ‘lava’. You can mix more if you want.

Step 4.

Disposal - be careful packing this one up so that you don’t get red food dye all over yourself! You can tip the vinegar down the sink or into the garden. If you wash the foil and the cardboard doesn’t have vinegar on it you can recycle them.

Taking It Further

You can experiment with ratios of vinegar to baking soda in order to create larger or smaller eruptions. Try pouring the vinegar faster or slower to see how it changes the eruption.

Draw your volcano afterwards!

Volcano Eruption (home learning)

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