Editing 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | In popular fiction (and maybe in part in fact) the "{{w|Sodium bicarbonate|Baking Soda}} and {{w|Vinegar}}" {{w|volcano}} is often a staple image of the science nerd at the science fair (see [https://sciencebob.com/the-erupting-volcano/ example here]), 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. | + | {{incomplete|Does it miss something about the reaction although that may not count as "real" science?}} |
+ | In popular fiction (and maybe in part in fact) the "{{w|Sodium bicarbonate|Baking Soda}} and {{w|Vinegar}}" {{w|volcano}} is often a staple image of the science nerd at the science fair (see [https://sciencebob.com/the-erupting-volcano/ example here]), 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. | ||
− | [[Ponytail]] is about to point out | + | As [[Ponytail]] 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 supposedly represents. In most soda volcano projects people don't even explain what's happening. |
− | + | The girl with hair bun has made a little more of her volcano, however, as it 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 (not visible in the comic) trying (and failing) to escape the dangers of the resultant mud-flows (a.k.a. {{w|lahar|lahars}} in professional terminology) 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. | 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 (a {{w|Supervolcano}} like {{w|Yellowstone Caldera|the one}} under {{w|Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone}}) and destined to produce a ''very real'' {{w|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). | + | The 'project' seems to be turning into a very thorough model of a much larger geological process (a {{w|Supervolcano}} like {{w|Yellowstone Caldera|the one}} under {{w|Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone}}) and destined to produce a ''very real'' {{w|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). |
− | It is especially troubling that the child even mentions that her model volcano is an offshoot of a | + | It is especially troubling that the child even mentions that her model volcano is an offshoot of a bakingsoda ''super''volcano. Supervolcanoes are massive volcanoes, far larger than even those on the list of {{w|Decade Volcanoes}} (mentioned in the title text), whose eruption would likely trigger species-level extinction events comparable to the dinosaur extinction. Humanity can only hope the child is exaggerating in her description, but the symptoms witnessed by the adult looking out the window suggest otherwise. |
− | + | [[Randall]] has mentioned supervolcanoes before in [[1053: Ten Thousand]] (title text) and [[1159: Countdown]], making it a recurring interest of his. | |
− | |||
− | [[Randall]] has mentioned supervolcanoes before in [[1053: Ten Thousand]] (title text) and [[1159: Countdown]], making it a recurring interest of his | ||
− | In the title text the student expects extra credit for getting her model volcano added to the Decade Volcanoes list, a list maintained by {{w|International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior}} of the | + | In the title text the student expects extra credit for getting her model volcano added to the 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 destroyed ancient Pompeii in Italy, and threatens modern-day Naples in the same manner), {{w|Mount Rainier}} (whose lahars could potentially destroy parts of Seattle) or {{w|Mauna Loa}} (which threatens all of Hawaii). But at least that means that it was only a "local" volcano event and not a supervolcano event that she created. But considering the scale of her original model volcano, then the eruption of her supervolcano would probably fit with the difference between a normal single volcano eruption and that of one supervolcano! She kept it to scale! |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Ponytail is standing behind | + | :[Ponytail is standing behind a small girl with a hair bun who has one hand up. They are looking at a table with a model volcano.] |
− | : | + | :Girl: My science project is a baking soda and vinegar volcano! |
− | :[A larger frame that includes Megan who stands to the right. Ponytail is a little further back and | + | :[A larger frame that includes Megan who stands to the right. Ponytail is a little further back and the girl has taken her hand down. The baking soda volcano erupts in a small upwards explosion.] |
:Ponytail: Why do people make these? It isn't really even a science project. It doesn't teach anything about- | :Ponytail: Why do people make these? It isn't really even a science project. It doesn't teach anything about- | ||
− | :Volcano: '''''Foom!''''' | + | :Volcano: '''''Foom! ''''' |
− | :[Smaller frame again. Ponytail has moved closer to the table, | + | :[Smaller frame again. Ponytail has moved closer to the table, the girl moves around the table to the right, pointing at the volcano while Megan walks closer. The "lava" flows down the volcano on both sides.] |
− | : | + | :Girl: See how the baking soda and vinegar mix with mud and ice to form deadly flowing lahars? |
− | :[Zoom in on | + | :[Zoom in on the girls head close to the stream of lave going down the lower part of the volcano's right slope.] |
− | : | + | :Girl: You can see the tiny cars trying to flee. |
− | : | + | :Girl: Whoops! Too slow. |
:[Zoom in on Ponytail.] | :[Zoom in on Ponytail.] | ||
:Ponytail: Um. This is a bit grim. | :Ponytail: Um. This is a bit grim. | ||
− | : | + | :Girl (off panel): Learning! |
− | :[ | + | :[The girls stand to the right of the table looking at the now still volcano. Shaky lines surround a sound effect written over the top of this slim frame:] |
− | : ''Rumble'' | + | :''Rumble'' |
− | :[Back to showing all three as before. | + | :[Back to showing all three as before. The girl looks at something in her hand (a stopwatch maybe?)] |
− | : | + | :Girl: And now we're learning that this volcano is an offshoot of a vinegar hotspot rising from deep within the earth. |
− | : | + | :Girl: ''Annind...'' |
− | :[ | + | :[The girls turns away from the table looking right as a loud noise can be heard off-panel, depicted in white text on a wavy black bubble:] |
− | : | + | :''Boooom'' |
:[Megan has walked over to a window to the right. It has the blinds drawn down. She opens a hole in the blinds by pulling down in the middle. It is dark outside. The other two are outside the frame to the left.] | :[Megan has walked over to a window to the right. It has the blinds drawn down. She opens a hole in the blinds by pulling down in the middle. It is dark outside. The other two are outside the frame to the left.] | ||
− | : | + | :Girl (off panel): The baking soda supervolcano erupts, injecting clouds of salt into the stratosphere. |
:Megan: Why is it getting dark outside? | :Megan: Why is it getting dark outside? | ||
− | : | + | :Girl (off panel): Learning is fun! |
− | :[We see | + | :[We see the girl standing close to the table, of which only the right leg can be seen. She holds up a tablet with a graph showing a rising trend. The other two are both out of the frame.] |
− | : | + | :Girl: Sunlight dims. The earth cools. Summer frosts form. Crops die. We check the markets. Grain prices are rising. |
:Megan (off panel): I want to stop learning now. | :Megan (off panel): I want to stop learning now. | ||
− | : | + | :Girl: Soon, we all will. |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
Line 72: | Line 68: | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
− | |||
[[Category:Science]] | [[Category:Science]] | ||
− | |||
− |