Build Your Own Lava Lamps

A lava lamp works because of two different scientific principles density and polarity.

Build your own lava lamps.

Make your own lava lamp instructions. Oil and water just do not mix. When the bubbles have stopped dribble a couple drops of food coloring into the bottle. First fill the empty water bottle about 2 3 full with vegetable oil.

Add about 8 to 10 drops of food coloring. Make this lamp only with adult supervision. I just made two different lava lamps using one color for each bottle. Density is the measurement of how compact a substance is how much of it fits in a certain amount of space.

Remember that the colors will blend together so be careful of your mix. Children should show an adult these instructions and ask for help and not attempt this on their own. Easy to make lava lamp science experiment. Watch your lava lamp erupt into activity.

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. Lava lamps are both mesmerising and beautiful to look at and in this daily dose we re going to make our own. How to make the lava lamp. A few minutes is usually a good time to leave the inked felt in the alcohol.

The oil floats on the surface because the water is heavier has a higher density than oil. It will sink slowly beneath the oil layer creating lots of bubbles. What you will need to make your lava lamp science experiment is in this picture. Notice that the water sinks below the vegetable oil.

You can also add some glitter for some extra bling. This is a safe and fun science experiment you can do at home or in a classroom. Break open an oil soluble marker or pen and place the inked felt into a container of benzyl alcohol. The alcohol and oil used in this lamp are flammable and must be treated with care when heating them to get the lava moving.

Fill the rest with water leaving a little of space at the top. Leaving it in longer will give a darker color but will also increase the tendency to bleed into the brine. It s a lot of fun if you have a group of children and each child can have their own supplies. Commercial lava lamps use a proprietary combination of melted waxes.

Fill the bottle two thirds full of oil. The food coloring droplets will fall through the oil and rest on top of the water. Lava lamp science project. Then add water until there s around an inch remaining at the top.

I ll show you two different ways to make your la.