Physical Distancing STEM Break with Ms. Meghan: Make a Volcano

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet! You can also check out ebooks from the library's catalog.

I'll be pairing up Libby books for GPL patrons with STEM activities, live webcams, educational programs, and citizen science projects.

So, let's go

Make a Volcano!

A volcano is a crack in the Earth's surface that allows lava, ash, and gas to escape from the lower levels down below. Today we'll be making a volcano model of our own.

Read: 

There are a number of books about volcanoes available through the Galesburg Public Library's catalog of ebooks, including Earth's Changing Surface by Conrad J. Storad and A Changing Earth by Heather Miller.

Create:
There are a lot of sites out there that will teach you how to create a volcano out of play dough, baking soda, and vinegar. For that extra science kick, I'm using the information found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's page. So we're going to create our eruption, measure it, model it, and investigate it!

You'll cut (or have an adult help you cut) a paper cup so it's only about half an inch high. Tape the cup to a piece or cardboard and label the directions North, South, East, and West.

Add a spoonful of baking soda to the cup. Then slowly pour in vinegar (you can add a couple drops of red food coloring) so you get an 'eruption' and 'lava flow'. What sort of reaction do you think is going on between the baking powder and vinegar to cause such an event?

Trace around the area of the 'lava' and dab it up with a paper towel. Put down a thin layer of dough to cover the area that was covered with 'lava'. On a piece of paper, make a map of how the lava flows. Do you think it will change now that the dough is down?

Continue to make more eruptions and lava flows, adding dough after each time, a different color if you have it. How is your volcano changing with the new material added?

Use clear plastic straws to push down into the dough. Can you see distinct layers? This is called a core sample.