Build Your Own Lava Lamps

Easy to make lava lamp science experiment.

Build your own lava lamps.

The alcohol and oil used in this lamp are flammable and must be treated with care when heating them to get the lava moving. What you will need to make your lava lamp science experiment is in this picture. Watch what happens to the water with your kids. Break open an oil soluble marker or pen and place the inked felt into a container of benzyl alcohol.

First fill the empty water bottle about 2 3 full with vegetable oil. A few minutes is usually a good time to leave the inked felt in the alcohol. When the bubbles have stopped dribble a couple drops of food coloring into the bottle. Remember that the colors will blend together so be careful of your mix.

It s a lot of fun if you have a group of children and each child can have their own supplies. How to make the lava lamp. The food coloring droplets will fall through the oil and rest on top of the water. A lava lamp works because of two different scientific principles density and polarity.

Then add water until there s around an inch remaining at the top. Make this lamp only with adult supervision. The oil floats on the surface because the water is heavier has a higher density than oil. As the reaction slows down simply add more alka seltzer.

Oil and water just do not mix. Lava lamp science project. 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. Density is the measurement of how compact a substance is how much of it fits in a certain amount of space.

Children should show an adult these instructions and ask for help and not attempt this on their own. This is a safe and fun science experiment you can do at home or in a classroom. I just made two different lava lamps using one color for each bottle. Lava lamps are both mesmerising and beautiful to look at and in this daily dose we re going to make our own.

Make your own lava lamp instructions. Fill the bottle two thirds full of oil. 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.

Add about 8 to 10 drops of food coloring. It will sink slowly beneath the oil layer creating lots of bubbles. Fill the rest with water leaving a little of space at the top. Commercial lava lamps use a proprietary combination of melted waxes.

You can also add some glitter for some extra bling.