Kick off the Lemonade Days of summer with a cool chemical reaction that promises to be a blast! Here’s everything you need to know to make your own lemon volcano plus the science behind the fizzy magic!
WHAT YOU NEED:
- A Few Lemons
- Baking Soda
- Food Coloring
- Dawn Dish Soap
- Plates
- Craft Sticks
- Lemon Juice
WHAT YOU DO:
- Prep the lemons by rolling them on the counter. This will help loosen the juice inside.
- Ask an adult to slice a little off the bottom of each lemon, just enough to make it flat.
- Now ask the adult to cut off the top quarter of each lemon.
- Stand up the lemons – juicy side up – on the plates.
- Take a craft stick and poke holes in the different sections of the lemons to help get the juices flowing.
- Place drops of food coloring on the juicy sections of the lemons. Use different color combinations for an extra STEAMy eruption.
- Drizzle the dish soap on top of the food coloring. Now you are ready to add the activator!
- Sprinkle a spoonful of baking soda onto each of the lemon tops. Use a craft stick to poke the baking soda down into the sections and release more juice.
- Watch the volcano bubble up and erupt.
- Add more lemon juice and baking soda to reactivate your volcano.
- Send a picture of your volcanos to [email protected] and we will post it on our website!
The magic behind the lemon volcano comes from one of our favorite chemical reactions that occurs when you mix together an acid and a base. The combination of lemon juice (the acid) and baking soda (the base) results in the release of carbon dioxide (the gas that makes soda bubbly). The dish soap helps make the reaction more pronounced because it captures the gas inside its bubbles.
