You've Got Ingredients for a Chemical Volcano

Classic Baking Soda & Vinegar Volcano

Chances are if you have made a model volcano, this was how you did it. The baking soda and vinegar reaction is nice because it's non-toxic and you can recharge your volcano to make it erupt again and again and again.

Yeast & Peroxide Volcano

The yeast and peroxide volcano is another safe choice for kids using common household ingredients. This volcano is a little foamier than the baking soda and vinegar variety. You can recharge this volcano, too.

Pro tip: Add a bit of dry ice to the volcano to make it smoke.

Mentos & Soda Eruption

This fountain or volcanic eruption can be done with other candies and any type of carbonated beverage. If you use a diet soda or an unsweetened drink the resulting spray will be a lot less sticky.

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Take Your Volcano Science Project to the Next Level

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Glowing Eruption

This volcano glows blue under a black light. That doesn't make it any more like a volcano than the other projects, except that lava is hot and glows. Glowing eruptions are cool.

Fountain Firework

This particular volcano erupts with smoke and fire, not lava. If you add iron or aluminum filings to the mixture, you can shoot a shower of sparks.

Ketchup & Baking Soda Volcano

The acetic acid in ketchup reacts with baking soda to produce an extra-special type of lava for a chemical volcano. This is a non-toxic volcano recipe that is sure to please.

Lemon Fizz Volcano

We colored this eruption blue, but you could just as easily make it red or orange. When you stop to think about it, you can react any acidic liquid with baking soda to create lava.

Vesuvian Fire

'Vesuvian Fire' is one name given to the classic tabletop chemical volcano made using ammonium dichromate. This is a spectacular demonstration, but chromium is toxic so this reaction is only carried out in the chemistry lab.

Color Change Chemical Volcano

This chemical volcano involves a color change of the 'lava' from purple to orange and back to purple. The volcano can be used to illustrate an acid-base reaction and the use of an acid-base indicator.

Pop Rocks Chemical Volcano

You don't have baking soda or vinegar to make a homemade chemical volcano? Here's a simple 2-ingredient volcano using Pop Rocks candies to produce the eruption. If you use red or pink pop rocks, you'll even get a nice color to the lava.

Sulfuric Acid & Sugar Ash Column

If you add a bit of sulfuric acid to sugar you'll create a glowing column of hot black ash.