When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade. Thus goes the standard proverbial phrase. Let us change it, and make a lemon volcano instead. A lemon volcano will not be very huge, but it will be colorful and bubbly. Most importantly, kids will love it. This lemon volcano science experiment does not require much preparation. Grab a few simple things from your kitchen, and you are ready to make a fizzy lemon volcano.
Materials required
Lemons
Baking Soda
Food color
Cutting Knife
Spoon
Large tray (to contain the volcanic eruption)
Procedure
- Cut the lemon into two equal halves. You can make two foaming volcanoes, if you wish.
- Slice off a bit from the rounded bottom of the lemon so that you can make it stand upright.
- Use the tail end of the spoon to mush the inner portion of the lemon. Make sure that the juice does not fall out.
- Pour a few drops of food coloring inside the cut portion of the lemon. You can add one color, or a mix of colors depending on how colorful you want the volcanoes to look. (Remember, the more, the merrier!)
- Add a spoonful of baking soda into the lemon. The lemon will start fizzing immediately. You can mix it well with the spoon, to double the effect.
- Keep adding more baking soda, and see the volcano bubbling up in all the bright colors!
Tip: You can add a few drops of liquid soap as well to the lemon. This will create a greater impact. More froth, more foam and more fun!
What we learn
This lemon volcano science experiment was total fun! Now let us get serious. What caused the lemon to foam and froth into a volcanic motion? Obviously, it was the baking soda that made our lemon into a volcano. But why did it happen?
Lemon is a citrus fruit, and contains plenty of citric acid. Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is a base. Acids easily get rid of hydrogen ions while reacting with a base. During chemical reactions, acids release hydrogen ions (H+), while bases release hydroxyl ions (OH–). When lemon juice and baking soda are mixed together, we create a mixture of an acid and a base. This process is called neutralization.
When citric acid reacts with sodium bicarbonate, it results in the formation of carbon dioxide gas. This gas tries to escape from the liquid, and foams up as bubbles. If we add soap solution, it traps more gas, and causes more bubbles. So we keep adding baking soda, and squeezing the lemons, till all the juice inside the lemon is used up for the reaction. Once this is over, it becomes a dead volcano. And in this process we learned some chemistry principles as well.
We have many more interesting and easy science experiments in our Experiments section. Check it out.
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