How to make a lava lamp in minutes
To make your lava lamp project, you only need a few simple things:
-Water bottles
-Funnel
-Food Colouring
-Alka Seltzer
-Water
-Vegetable Oil
HOW TO
First, measure 1 cup of tap water in a measuring cup. Then, add 20 drops of food colouring and stir together.
Next, in the plastic bottles, fill them about 3/4 full with the vegetable oil using a funnel.
Now, pour the coloured water into the plastic bottle using the funnel.
Here comes the fun part! Take a tab of Alka Seltzer and break it into 4 smaller pieces. Drop one piece of tablet into the bottle. It will go to the bottom but, as it dissolves, it will cause coloured bubbles to occur making it look like lava.
Shine a light through it to make it glow!
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HOMEMADE LAVA LAMP
The oil and water will stay separated because they cannot form chemical bonds together. So once everything settles, you will always see the coloured water at the bottom of the bottle, and the oil on top.
The Alka Seltzer contains sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. When you mix these two ingredients with water, they combine to produce carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide creates the water bubbles that float up through the oil. Then, as the chemical reaction slows down, the water bubbles fall back to the bottom.
During the project, ask your kids what they think is going on. What do they see? What do they think will happen if they add another Alka Seltzer tablet? Why are the water and the oil separate from each other? Explain the science behind it to help them understand the reactions happening in the bottle.
Watch this space for more experiments and fun ‘how to’s for the kids.