Build Your Own Lava Lamp

Watch what happens to the water with your kids.

Build your own lava lamp.

Make your own lava lamp. Watch your lava lamp erupt into activity. The key to how the lava lamp works is the fact that oil and water don t mix. A few minutes is usually a good time to leave the inked felt in the alcohol.

Fill the bottle two thirds full of oil. Make your own lava lamp. Then add water until there s around an inch remaining at the top. Oil and water just do not mix.

Leaving it in longer will give a darker color but will also increase the tendency to bleed into the brine. Make your own lava lamp. To make a lava lamp with household ingredients start by pouring vegetable oil water and food coloring into a plastic bottle. Try some funky science with our lava lamp experiment.

Then add some salt to the bottle or an effervescent tablet so the mixture starts fizzing. A lava lamp works because of two different scientific principles density and polarity. Did everyone enjoy mother s day weekend. How to make the lava lamp.

Whether two liquids mix depends on the interactions between their molecules and also their freedom to move around the stronger the attractive forces and the greater the possibilities of movement the more likely they are to mix. Break open an oil soluble marker or pen and place the inked felt into a container of benzyl alcohol. I know i ve been complaining about the weather the past couple months but this weekend was absolutely beautiful. As the reaction slows down simply add more alka seltzer.

Fill the rest with water leaving a little of space at the top. Make an alka seltzer powered lava lamp from science buddies make your own lava lamp from science buddies create underwater fireworks with chemistry from scientific american. First fill the empty water bottle about 2 3 full with vegetable oil. Notice that the water sinks below the vegetable oil.

Our weekend was filled with long days in the sun four wheeler rides family meals bike riding and bubbles. Chemistry gets a disco twist in this fun experiment using every day kitchen ingredients. The oil floats on the surface because the water is heavier has a higher density than oil. Make your own lava lamp instructions.