Build Your Own Lava Lamps

Break open an oil soluble marker or pen and place the inked felt into a container of benzyl alcohol.

Build your own lava lamps.

A lava lamp works because of two different scientific principles density and polarity. The alcohol and oil used in this lamp are flammable and must be treated with care when heating them to get the lava moving. Add about 8 to 10 drops of food coloring. Make your own lava lamp instructions.

Oil and water just do not mix. Fill the rest with water leaving a little of space at the top. Fill the bottle two thirds full of oil. It will sink slowly beneath the oil layer creating lots of bubbles.

Then add water until there s around an inch remaining at the top. As the reaction slows down simply add more alka seltzer. The oil floats on the surface because the water is heavier has a higher density than oil. Watch what happens to the water with your kids.

It s a lot of fun if you have a group of children and each child can have their own supplies. Easy to make lava lamp science experiment. This is a safe and fun science experiment you can do at home or in a classroom. Leaving it in longer will give a darker color but will also increase the tendency to bleed into the brine.

Lava lamps are both mesmerising and beautiful to look at and in this daily dose we re going to make our own. You can also add some glitter for some extra bling. Make your own lava lamp. 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.

Children should show an adult these instructions and ask for help and not attempt this on their own. What you will need to make your lava lamp science experiment is in this picture. Density is the measurement of how compact a substance is how much of it fits in a certain amount of space. Lava lamp science project.

Notice that the water sinks below the vegetable oil. When the bubbles have stopped dribble a couple drops of food coloring into the bottle. Watch your lava lamp erupt into activity. A few minutes is usually a good time to leave the inked felt in the alcohol.

First fill the empty water bottle about 2 3 full with vegetable oil. How to make the lava lamp. I ll show you two different ways to make your la. The food coloring droplets will fall through the oil and rest on top of the water.

Commercial lava lamps use a proprietary combination of melted waxes.