Disappointing Science with Kids

Ah, the Science Fair Volcano.  Bit of a cliché that.  But I'd never made one.  Well the stars all seemed to be in alignment.  We had the grandkids for a few days while their parents traveled.  We had a gallon of vinegar.  And, thanks to FIRST Robotics, we had big box of baking soda.

That last bit might seem a bit of a leap, but in FIRST you are expected to take safety very seriously.  You are supposed to have a "battery acid spill kit" at the competition.  Protective gloves, baking soda to sprinkle on the acid, a trash can to put it in.  Since everyone at the event has the same set up I image the extremely unlikely event of an acid spill in the pit area would quickly become a blizzard of white powder being thrown about.  Especially as our team a few years ago thought a four pound box was necessary.  (We've since downgraded to a more rational size so this was now surplus).

 Baking soda, vinegar, dish soap and food coloring staged on the tractor.  Wait, a tractor?

Well, we were going for excess here, so plowing up a big snow mound for the volcano made sense.

There are lots of formulae out on the internet.  Most of them measure amounts in tablespoons.  We wanted to Go Big.  My wife suggested a full cup of baking soda.  We talked her up to two.  The results were unimpressive.

You'll note the grandkids had backed off to a safe distance.  You can tell they were a bit disappointed.  They resumed playing with plastic dinosaurs while my son and I worked on Volcano 2.0.  He found some sort of cooler in his garage.  It had Willie Nelson on it and seems to have been designed to put a six pack of beer and some ice in a long insulated sleeve.  In went two pounds of baking soda.  Add as much vinegar as will fit and.....

Somewhat better, but it took ridiculous amounts of ingredients to get there.  I think Science Fair volcanos have always been a disappointing flop but nobody ever fesses up to this.  

After the eruptions were finished the Sno-Cano and the pseudo lava were pushed away with the tractor.  Leaving this interesting remnant for the neighbors to wonder about.

Nope, nothing suspicious going on here folks, just keep driving by.