UAMN Virtual Early Explorers: Mountains
Volcano Experiment
Explore Earth’s volcanoes with this outdoor science experiment!
Materials Needed:
Glass jar (or plastic cup), 5 tablespoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons dish soap,
1 ½ cups water, red food coloring or tempera paint, 1-2 cups vinegar.
You will also need an outdoor area with snow, soil, gravel, or sand.
Instructions:
Step 1: Choose an area outside. Pile snow, soil,
gravel, or sand up to make a mound. This will be
your volcano.
Step 2: In your jar or cup, mix 1 ½ cups water,
5 tablespoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons dish
soap, and a few drops of red paint or food
coloring.
Step 3: Make a small hole at the top of your
volcano. Place the jar or cup inside with the Image: Preschool Inspirations.
top open.
Step 4: Pour 1 cup of vinegar into the jar and
enjoy the volcanic eruption! Pour more vinegar
and add more baking soda to make a second
eruption and prolong the fun.
Activity adapted from
[Link]/easy-baking-soda-
and-vinegar-volcano-eruption-for-kids/
UAMN Virtual Early Explorers: Mountains
Volcanoes on Earth and Beyond
Volcanoes are a special kind of mountain. Unlike other mountains, they have
a vent directly connected to the hot magna under the surface of the planet.
During each volcanic eruption, lava is expelled and hardens on the ground.
Over time, this builds up to form a mountain around the vent. Earth has
about 1500 possibly active volcanoes. About 500 of these have erupted since
people began keeping written records.
Left: Steam plume of Redoubt
Volcano, Lake Clark National
Park, Alaska, May 8, 2009.
Image: USGS.
In 1979, NASA’s Voyager 1 probe took a picture of Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, and
discovered an active volcano on its surface. This was the first volcano discovered
outside of Earth. Since then, scientists have discovered many more volcanoes in
the Solar System, on both planets and moons.
Our neighboring planet Venus has more
volcanoes on its surface than any other
planet in the Solar System. Mars has the
largest known volcano. Olympus Mons is
almost 3 times higher than Mount
Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth!
Bottom left: Volcanic eruption on Io in 2000. Image: NASA/JPL.
Bottom right: Olympus Mons on Mars. Image: NASA/Viking Orbiter.
