Volcano

Hi, I am Jayce Beastrom. Have you ever been in your biology class and were told to do a presentation about the earth? Then you start thinking about what would you do. Your third-grade mind kicks in. Today I will be teaching you how to make a usable volcano. Did you know that More than 80% of the earth's surface is volcanic or came from a volcano?

Step one is getting all of your supplies for your volcano. Get 5 to 10 pounds of modeling clay. You can also get some paint to make it more realistic. I used green and red paint to make it look natural, but you can use any color of paint. After that, get a cardboard box to make it on so you can move it around and so you don't make a mess. Lastly, you need coke and Mentos. Make sure your Mentos are not the gum type or it will not work. Then, you are going to need scissors and some tape to cut the carport and tape some down.

Step two, you’re going to get your coke bottle and put it in the middle of your cardboard. You will need some extra cardboard to cut strips. With those strips, you will lay them at an angle from about the top of the bottle to the cardboard it is sitting on, but do not put them straight up and down along the bottle. I used paper bags after we taped everything down to fill in the small gaps and provide support so there are no gaps when putting on the clay around your coke bottle. Not every cardboard strip will be the same because if you use a different bottle you are going to need different strips.

Step three, now you can start putting on your modeling clay. I started around the top and finished around the bottom. Don’t be stingy with the clay, put a good thick layer on so when you flatten and smooth it all out you have plenty on the bottle. Make sure you leave a big enough hole up top though so all of the coke can spray out. Make sure there are no gaps or cracks when you are done. Then, you can design how steep you want it and can design holes and lava paths in the middle to make it more realistic if you would like. I then used water and a sponge to smooth out the clay and make it look better.

Step four, start painting your volcano. I used a brown color over the whole volcano first to cover up the clay color. Next, I put a little green at the bottom and mixed it in with the brown to add lively shiny color at the end. After that, I used light orange and brown paint mixed at the top to make it represent the lava coming out. Then, I put a red strip down a few sides to represent lava flowing down and to make it look like an active volcano. You can do what I did but this step has a lot more freedom to it. You can use whatever colors you like and can paint it however you want.

Step five is the best part, because you get to set your volcano off. First, you get to an open area to make sure you don’t make a huge mess, I would go outside. After that it's pretty simple, you put a few Mentos in the bottle and back up. I used six mentos for mine. Your bottle should foam up and should explode into the air.