Wax Volcano Lab When you hear about a volcano erupting, what do you think is going on? If you’re like us, you think of red hot chunks of rock being hurled thousands of feet in the air, flows of liquid magma, and plumes of smoke. That’s not always the case. Some volcanoes erupt underwater and their smoking hot by-products are immediately cooled. With the volcano in a cup, you can see what happens underwater on a smaller, safer scale. Setup: Pre-lab Predictions: 1. Which will melt first – the wax or the sand? 1. What will happen to the wax once it has melted? Why? 1. Will any of the molten wax reach the top of the water? Now turn on your hot plate and watch! Describe what you observe in your own words: Follow up Questions: 1. What do the sand and the wax represent? 1. What is similar between the demonstration and an actual volcano? 1. What is different between the demonstration and an actual volcano? What’s going on here? The core of the earth has liquid hot magma that, on occasion, erupts through the crust. The volcanic eruptions we generally think of occur on land and result in the sky-high smoke plumes and lava flows that we see on the news. However, nearly 80% of all volcanic eruptions occur underwater. Until scientists got footage of an underwater eruption in 2009, we had no idea what they looked like. With the Volcano in a Cup, you recreate liquid hot magma by heating wax that is covered by sand. The liquid hot wax bubbles through the sand and causes miniature eruptions in the surface of the sand as it does so. Think of each bubble in the sand’s surface as an underwater volcano. When the wax bubbles through the surface of the sand, it is met by much colder water that cools the wax and causes it to harden. Undersea Volcano Eruptions caught on video!
