Editing 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar

{{comic
| number    = 1611
| date      = December 2, 2015
| title     = Baking Soda and Vinegar
| image     = baking_soda_and_vinegar.png
| titletext = Sure, it may not meet science fair standards, but I want credit for getting my baking soda and vinegar mountain added to the Decade Volcanoes list.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First go at an explanation, but from a transatlantic perspective...}}
In popular fiction (and maybe in part in fact) the "Baking Soda And Vinegar" volcano is often a staple image of the science nerd at the science fair, unless all the science nerds are doing ''real'' imaginative science and the student(s) with the volcano exhibit are dragging out the old hackneyed stereotype.  It may also be age-dependent, this being something that is relatively advanced science for the lower grades but rather a childish experiment in the hands of older students.

As the adult is probably about to point out, the 'volcano' exhibit doesn't (usually) actually demonstrate anything about volcanic activity, it is just simple chemistry - such as you usually conduct in a simple test-tube - dressed up to look more impressive, often with dye or other additives to make the 'lava' look realistic for the model, but unrelated to the geology it is being represented as.

''This'' volcano, however, seems to go beyond simple chemistry.  The model replicates many of the dangers (aside from the pure lava) of a volcano, and appears to have been given scaled-down vehicles trying (and failing) to escape the dangers of the resultant mud-flows being modelled.

Even more, this is not an isolated 'model volcano' but a vinegar-powered representation of a geological 'hot spot', such as with the islands of Hawaii, in which the spot moves with respect to the Earth's crust (or vice-versa) and generates a new volcano some way off.  Despite this model being supported on a table, it appears that the 'project' extends some way beyond that and has somehow contrived further eruptions away from the table, the room and probably even the building.

The 'project' seems to be turning into a very thorough model of a much larger geological process and destined to produce a ''very real'' volcanic winter.  Where a magma-powered volcano could produce vast clouds of dust, preventing the sun's energy from warming the Earth, in this case it's the airborne salt (probably sodium acetate) from the chemical reaction that appears to be in danger of causing crop failure.  There's no mention of the corresponding environmental effects of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide (and/or aqueous carbonic acid) necessarily released in proportion to the ejected salt (presumably itself not left in solution).

=== Title Text ===
In the title text the student expects extra credit for getting her model volcano added to the {{w|Decade Volcanoes}} list, a list maintained by {{w|International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior}} of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes (currently 16). It is either an absurd notion or a very troubling achievement that a science fair project could achieve the threatlevel posed by the likes of {{w|Mount Vesuvius}} (which destoryed ancient Pompei in italy), {{w|Mount Rainier}} (which could potentially destroy parts of Seattle) or {{w|Mauna Loa}} (which threatens all of Hawaii).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

Girl: My science project is a baking soda and vinegar volcano!

Ponytail: Why do people make these? It isn't really even a science project. It doesn't teach anything about -
''Volcano makes ''FOOM!''

Girl: See how the baking soda and vinegar mix with mud and ice to form deadly flowing lahars?

Girl: You can see the tiny cars trying to flee. Whoops! Too Slow

Ponytail: Um. This is a bit Grim.

Girl: (interrupts Ponytail) Learning!

{{comic discussion}}