Re: Fwd: Volcano Demonstration Question

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From: Kay Lancaster (kay@fern.com)
Date: Thu May 22 2003 - 21:41:01 PDT


Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 21:41:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kay Lancaster <kay@fern.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Volcano Demonstration Question
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0305222129330.18338-100000@hub.fern.com>

On Thu, 22 May 2003, John or Jan Lahr wrote:

> >hello Madeleine, i am a mid-high school science teacher working in Nth
> >Sumatra, in Indonesia. One of our lower school classes is doing a
> >'vulcanos' topic at present, and are building a model for such. I
> >wanted to show them the 'real' thing, with a small explosion and
> >over-flow of 'lava' from the crater.

The old faithful demo when I was a kid used the thermite reaction,
but it's not exactly safe.
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/CCA1/R1MAIN/CD1R1870.HTM#1870
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/main_pages/5.3.html

Ammonium dichromate is another common demo; again, not something
you want kids to try hands-on, most likely, as chromium compounds
are commonly classed as carcinogenic.
http://www.chem.uiuc.edu/clcwebsite/ammvol.html
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/demonstrations/a/aa033003a.htm
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/vrchemistry/FilmStudio/volcano/HTML/page01.htm

Sugar and sulfuric acid might do in some circumstances, but again,
demo only:
http://www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/animations/sugar.html

I spotted this one, from the UK -- the red candle wax doesn't
sound spectacular, but it's got some good pedagogic points:
http://www.earthscienceeducation.com/handouts/
The%20Dynamic%20Rock%20Cycle.pdf

Thinking out loud... how about sodium bicarbonate and a
mixture of a thickener like carageenan or methylcellulose and
vinegar or other dilute acid, plus food color, if this is going
to be a hands on activity?

Kay Lancaster kay@fern.com


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