Making a Volcano

One of the tasks this weekend, as well as homework, soccer and groceries was to make a volcano and see if it would work for Levi's caveman party in a month or so.  One of my friends at work had told me that you could make a fast and fairly good volcano in a couple of hours (which is all we will have at the party).  It involves building a base from the expanding foam that you use to seal and insulate in your door jams and things.  It has a tube to direct the flow and it is quite fast at drying.  So what you do is make a volcano out of the foam with a plastic disposable cup in the center to contain the lava down the track.  The trick is to remember that it keeps expanding and so you need to use less than you think you do.  The plastic cup will change shape as the foam pushes it around but it still leaves enough space for the 'lava' reaction down the track.  The expanding foam isn't great on bare skin but with the tube directing where it goes, even Levi, at nearly seven, only needed a small amount of hand over hand assistance.  The foam was touch dry in about half an hour and we could spray paint it.

Then we took it outside and spray painted it.  Again, this was easy enough that he could do it all by himself.  We sprayed it brown with the obligatory red at the top for the lava.  I am afraid it looked a lot like a cow pat.  Well it looks like a cow pat from a cow with significant gastrointestinal problems, or the worst case of hemorrhoids that has ever been seen!  Still it looked great!  I had bought quick drying paint, so it took about half an hour and the whole thing was completed.  It will be perfect for Levi's birthday party.  We will be able to make the bases and let them run the lava (probably a few times) before sending them home.  So the next day we had to make the volcano erupt.  It is the simplest reaction and none of the ingredients before or after the reaction are dangerous, so they can make all the mistakes they want and it still will work.  It involves Bicarbonate of Soda in the cup in the center, mix that with about half the amount of dish washing soap.  Then you mix vinegar with red and yellow food coloring and pour this into the cup.  The lava then erupts. 

The rain continues here but has slowed down.  It won't affect our ability to get out this week, much to Levi's disgust.