Volcanoes Erupt!

Jocelyn was studying volcanoes in Geography this past week and we did a little experiment in the kitchen. 

We mixed:
2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 of oil (measurements are approximate)...

(the actually recipe called for 6 cups of flour and 2 cups of salt...I didn't want to "waste" all of that for a volcano...so we just covered the top of the water bottle, instead of the entire thing.) 

Mix until a dough forms and then form it into a volcano-like structure.

After our structure was complete we filled our water bottle up with warm water (left about 1 inch at the top).  We then put 6 drops of liquid dish washing detergent,  2 TBSP of baking soda, and red food coloring.  Then Jocelyn added vinegar and we watched our volcano erupt.  It made for a nice discussion about how different elements combine and react with each other.  This stuff is all new to me...well I am sure I learned it in school at some point...but did not retain the information...AT ALL. 

How did I end up married to a mechanical engineer?  I guess opposites do attract?

Here is a little video of our volcano erupting: