Home Made Lava Lamps

Question: Which combination of liquids make the best lava lamp?

 

Hypothesis: We think that oil and water will be the best combination because oil and water do not mix thus the two liquids form separate layers in the bottle. Since the water is denser than oil, it sinks to the bottom. 

Materials: 

• water
• apple juice
• milk
•  3 plastic bottles (16.9 FL OZ)
  
• funnel
• food coloring
• vegetable oil
• alka seltzer tabelts
• light box

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Safety Procedures

Don't drink the mixtures.

Procedure:

1. Take out 3 empty bottles (16.9 FL OZ).  Fill two thirds of each bottle with oil.
2. Fill the rest of one bottle with water.  Fill the rest of another bottle with apple juice.  Fill the rest of the last bottle with milk.
3. Add food coloring to the bottles.
4. Drop an alka seltzer tablet into each bottle.
5. See which liquid works the best.

Just for fun:  Put a light source under the lava lamp and shut the lights.  Watch the lava lamp glow!


Special Needs:
Access to a sink
A room that can be darkened

Watch us in action making lava lamps!  

The Science behind it

Water and oil do not mix.  The water is denser than the oil so the water sinks to the bottom. The food coloring combines with the water but not the oil.  When you put in the alka seltzer, the bubbles of carbon dioxide ascend to the layer of oil.  When the bubbles pop, the colored water descends back down to the water layer.  

Observations:
When we tried milk and oil, the milk sunk to the bottom.  The milk made bubbles in the oil and the food coloring did not mix well with the milk.  When we put the alka- seltzer tab in, it made a few bubbles that went to the top but did not come back down.
When we tried the apple juice and oil, the juice sunk to the bottom and it made bubbles in the oil.  The food dye mixed with the apple juice. When we put the alka- seltzer tab in the bubbles went up to the oil and came back down.
When we tried water and oil, the water sunk.  The food dye mixed well with the water.  When we put the alka-seltzer tab in, it made a lot of big, fast moving bubbles.

Conclusions

We accept our hypothesis that oil and water make the best combination of liquids for a homemade lava lamp.  The water made the fastest, most colorful and largest amount of bubbles. From this experiment we learned water and oil make the best lava lamp, milk and oil make the worst and apple juice and oil made a mediocre lava lamp.







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About James

James is a 10 year old student in Somers Intermediate School. His favorite subjects in school are science and social studies. When he is not in school he likes playing baseball and video games.

About Donovan

Donovan is a 10 year old 5th grade student at Somers Intermediate School. His favorite subjects are reading and math. Outside of school Donovan likes playing sports and video games.

About Matt

Matt is a 10 year old 5th grader at Somers Intermediate School. His favorite subject is math. When he is not in school, Matt likes to play video games and sports, especially soccer.

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