Simple and Fun: Apple Volcano
Fall is an excellent time of the year to put a little twist on classic science experiments!
APPLE SCIENCE
Our erupting apple science activity is an awesome example of a chemical reaction, and students will love this amazing chemistry just as much as adults! This erupting apple science experiment uses baking soda and vinegar for a classic chemical reaction experiment. You could also try lemon juice and baking soda and compare the results!
WHAT IS CHEMISTRY?
Chemistry is all about the way different materials are put together, and how they are made up including atoms and molecules. It’s also how these materials act under different conditions. Chemistry is often a base for physics so you will see overlap!
What might you experiment within chemistry? Classically we think of a mad scientist and lots of bubbling beakers, and yes there are reactions between bases and acids to enjoy! Also, chemistry involves states of matter, changes, solutions, mixtures, and the list goes on and on.
APPLE VOLCANO EXPERIMENT
Grab your apples! You can check out different color apples too. In fact, if you don’t want to waste food, grab some bad apples and give it ago.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
- Apples
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
- Container to catch the fizz
- Knife to carve out a hole (for adults to do!)
APPLE VOLCANO SETUP
Step 1. Put your apple on a dish, pie plate, or tray to catch the runoff.
An adult should use a knife to cut a hole or vessel in the top of the apple about halfway down.
Step 2. You can then have the students put a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda into the hole.
Hint: Add a drop of dish soap if you want a foamier eruption! The chemical eruption will produce more bubbles with the added dish soap and create more runoff too!
Step 3. Add a few drops of food coloring if you want. Mix it up and pair different colors with different apples.
Step 4. You will want to pour your vinegar into an easy to use cup for the students. Additionally, you can provide them with eye droppers or turkey basters for extra fun.
Pouring straight from a cup into the apple will produce a more dramatic volcano effect. While using a baster or eyedropper will have a smaller eruption. You can explore with these science tools!
Check out fizzing red and green apples with all sorts of colors!
BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION
Chemistry is all about states of matter including liquids, solids, and gasses. A chemical reaction occurs between two or more substances that change and form a new substance, and in this case a gas called carbon dioxide. In this case, you have an acid (liquid: vinegar) and a base solid: baking soda) when combined make a gas called carbon dioxide which produces the eruption you can see.
The carbon dioxide escapes the mixture in the form of bubbles. You can even hear them if you listen closely. The bubbles are heavier than air, so the carbon dioxide collects at the surface of the apple or overflows the apple because of the small vessel we have given it.
In this baking soda apple volcano, the dish soap is added to collect the gas and form bubbles that give it a more robust apple volcano lava like flow down the side! That equals more fun! You don’t have to add dish soap but it’s worth a try. You can even set up an experiment to see which eruption you like more.
You can experiment with a variety of containers to find your perfect volcano vessel or create a more traditional one.
Share your Apple Volcano!
Share your projects with us at rcs@edupix.org so we can share it with everyone!