The Sandbox

Activities!

Blow Your Top | Print A Fish | Whale of a Mobile | See The Sea Shrimp

Blow Your Top!

As you probably already know by now, there are thousands of volcanoes on the ocean floor. This activity will simulate the eruption of an ocean volcano.

Things You'll Need:

• 1 20-ounce plastic soda bottle
• lots of dirt
• 1 tablespoon of liquid detergent
• red food coloring
• 1 cup of vinegar
• warm tap water
• 2 tablespoons of baking soda

What to do:

1. Take the bottle outside and place it on the ground. Mound up dirt around the sides of the bottle making a cone shape (like a mountain of dirt).
2. Put 1 tablespoon of liquid detergent into the bottle.
3. Add a couple drops of red food coloring.
4. Add 1 cup of vinegar.
5. Add warm tap water-filling the bottle almost to the top.
6. Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a little water and add it very quickly to the bottle.

What will happen:

When baking soda is mixed with vinegar a chemical reaction takes place and carbon dioxide is produced. Since carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air it pushes the air out of the bottle. The detergent in the bottle creates bubbles and the food coloring adds color to the "eruption".

Although ocean volcanoes don't have the same "ingredients" as this activity, their behaviour is somewhat similar. In an ocean volcano, hot molten rock (lava) rises up from deep inside the earth. This magma pushes through holes or cracks in the earth's crust and solidifies. With each eruption more and more magma builds up. In some places volcanoes continue to grow until they eventually break the surface of the ocean and form islands.