How to Make a Model of a Volcano
In A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and completely buried the city of Pompeii in soot and ash, leaving the city as a perfectly preserved time capsule. In 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded and buried 230 square miles of forest. With a few ingredients from around the house, you can exhibit the power of a volcano at home, minus all the destruction, of course.
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Things You'll Need
- Play dough
- Plastic bottle
- Newspapers
- Dish soap
- 1 tbsp. baking soda
- Food coloring
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- Piece of cardboard or plywood
- Decorations
Instructions
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1
Prepare the bottle. It should be completely clean before you start, so simply wash it and dry it as you would any other dish.
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2
Attach the bottle to the cardboard or plywood. Use tape or glue, whatever is more convenient.
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3
Bunch the newspaper into small balls. This is the building block of the volcano infrastructure.
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4
Build the volcano infrastructure. Glue or tape the paper balls together as you build around the bottle. Build this as wide as you like, but make sure the height is no taller than the bottle. By the time you're finished, the bottle shouldn't be visible.
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5
Ready the play dough. Using your hands or a rolling pin, stretch out the play dough until it is flat and thin.
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Put the play dough on the bare volcano. After you put it on, make sure to uncover the top of the bottle, or your volcano won't work.
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7
Get creative. To make your volcano supremely convincing, decorate it. Whether this means brown paint, little Lego men, or tiny fake trees is entirely up to you.
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Ready the lava ingredients. Pour one tbsp. of dish soap and one tbsp. of baking soda into the volcano. Add food coloring to give the illusion of deadly red-hot lava.
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Erupt the volcano. Pour a quarter of a cup of white vinegar into the bottle and stand back and enjoy the show. You can adjust the measurements depending on how big or small of an explosion you prefer.
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Tips & Warnings
Build the volcano somewhere easy to clean up.
