Create mini volcanoes and tornadoes

Two devastating natural disasters many of you must have heard about and even seen via the electronic media are volcanoes and tornadoes. Here are two experiments you can do to make an active volcano using baking soda and vinegar and also a tornado in a bottle.

Tornado in a bottle

Learn how to make a tornado in a bottle , your own mini tornado that's a lot safer than one you might see on the weather channel with this fun science experiments. You can use easy to find items such as dish washing liquid, water, glitter and an empty clear plastic bottle to make it. Follow the instructions and enjoy the cool water vortex you create! First fill the plastic bottle with water until it becomes three quarters full. Then add a few drops of dish washing liquid. If you sprinkle a few pinches of glitter into it will make it easier to see your tornado in the bottle. Next fix the lid tightly .Turn the bottle upside down and hold it by the neck. Quickly spin the bottle in a circular motion for a few seconds, stop and look inside to see if you can see a mini tornado forming in the water. You might need to try it a few times before you get it working properly.

Spinning the bottle in a circular motion creates a water vortex that looks like a mini tornado. The water is rapidly spinning around the centre of the vortex due to centripetal force (an inward force directing an object or fluid such as water towards the centre of its circular path). Vortexes found in nature include tornadoes, hurricanes and waterspouts (a tornado that forms over water).

Baking soda and vinegar volcano

By using baking soda and vinegar you can witness an awesome chemical reaction! Make a realistic looking volcano using cardboard or some other material. It takes some craft skills to build this so you can ask an adult to help you in this venture. The volcano will make the vinegar and baking soda eruptions look even more impressive! Have some towels ready to clean up the mess as the volcano rapidly fizzes over the container inside it.

You need baking soda (make sure it's not baking powder), vinegar,a container to hold everything and some cloth or paper towels to do this very simple but impressive experiment .Once you make the volcano and place the container inside of it, put some baking soda into it and add the vinegar .There will be an instant reaction and the volcano will erupt. Do not peer into the volcano .Stay away from it and watch the reaction.

What's happening?The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing as it escapes the solution.