By KENNA MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Storytime at the Moapa Valley Library was hijacked by mad scientists on Friday, July 19. Librarians Maggie McMurray, “Doctor Mustache,” and Naomi Harris, “Doctor Frederick,” got into character to teach the kids all about volcanoes.
Complete with adhesive mustaches and evil laughs, the librarians shared stories about volcanoes. They read children’s favorites like “Dear Katie, the Volcano is a Girl”, “What Mess?”, and “Volcanoes” to highlight the subject of the day. These stories provided knowledge about how a volcano works and just what makes them go “boom.”
A video of Bill Nye the Science Guy also helped shed some light on the subject. The children watched an episode of Bill Nye about volcanoes.
If the stories and the video were not enough, attendees then got to experience a volcano eruption. Of course they couldn’t see a real volcano, but they did get to see a science project one. Kids were ushered outside where a volcano of vinegar, dish soap, and baking soda was waiting, ready to erupt.
The volcano experienced an “earthquake” by shaking the volcano until all the ingredients were mixed together. Then everyone backed off as frothy “lava” gushed from the top.
Kids oohed and aahed at the science creation, but that wasn’t the end of the show. Following the vinegar volcano came the Mentos and soda one. Kids decided which soda they thought would make the biggest geyser and then watched as Mentos candies were dropped into Shasta orange soda, root beer, and Sprite. Everyone was amazed at the impressive geysers that erupted from each of the bottles. The finale of the soda show was the Diet Coke, which more than doubled the next tallest geyser.
After watching each of these volcanoes erupt, kids then got to make their own science project. Children were handed a bottle full of vinegar and given a deflated balloon filled with baking soda. They placed the balloon around the ring of the bottle and tipped it up until all the baking soda entered the bottle. They then watched as the gas created by the chemical reaction caused the balloon to inflate. Many kids tied off their balloons to keep as souvenirs of the activity.
