Hooked on Science: Make an underwater volcano at home

Did you know there are thousands of volcanoes underwater? Using a few items from around the house you can create your own underwater volcano.

Materials

* Transparent bottle with narrow neck

* Red food coloring

* Hot water

* Cold water

* Transparent jar

Instructions

STEP 1: Make sure the transparent bottle with narrow neck fits inside the transparent jar.

STEP 2: Tie a long piece of string around the neck of the transparent bottle so you can lower the bottle evenly into the transparent jar.

STEP 3: Fill the transparent jar with cold water.

STEP 4: Fill the transparent bottle with narrow neck with hot water. Add the red food coloring.

STEP 5: Lower the transparent bottle with red food coloring into the transparent jar with cold water and observe.

Explanation

The hot water rises and floats on the cold water. The red food coloring allows you to see the hot water rising through the cold water

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindseyhookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.