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• Lava Lamp Experiment

What is a Lava Lamp? 

Lava lamps, also known as liquid motion lamps, have been doing the rounds for ages. The lava lamp science project hypothesis talks about the density of two liquids and the solubility of the two same liquids. In the lava lamp, we have liquids that are very close to each other in density and are insoluble in each other. Many people often end up using oil and water because they are insoluble in each other. But the two liquids have densities that are very different from one another. So you need to find two liquids with very close densities for the experiment to work.  

(Image to be added soon)

Once you have found the two liquids, heat the bottom of the mixture with a light bulb. The denser liquid will absorb the heat and expand. While expanding it low becomes less dense. As both the liquids have similar densities, the previously denser liquid becomes lighter and rises over the other liquid. All of this happens in very slow motion, and the density changes that occur are very mild. 

When Does a Lava Lamp Expire?

A bottle of a lava lamp is said to last nearly 2000 hours. After this, you can either replace it with a new lava lamp or bring a new bottle. A lava lamp usually starts working an hour after turning them on. Most lava lamps run on battery nowadays. You can change the batteries too in case the lamps stop working. 

Lava Lamp Experiment 

The lava lamp experiment works on the principle of density and polarity. Let us see how to make a lava lamp.

Apparatus Needed For Lava Lamp Experiment: 

Flask or a bottle 

Water 

Vegetable oil 

Alka-Seltzer or some other fizz tablets 

What is to Be Done

Fill the bottle or flask with water. Fill it to a quarter. It is advised to use a funnel so that the water doesn’t spill outside. 

Now add vegetable oil to the bottle until it is full to the brim.

Wait for some time. Let the vegetable oil and water levels separate. 

Add food coloring to the mixture. Pick any color, think of any choice. Since the food coloring is also water-based, it will sink and settle at the bottom of the flask. 

Take an Alka-Seltzer tablet and break it into small pieces. Start adding them to the flask one by one. 

The reactions will start inside the bottle as soon as the tablets are added. 

In case the lava lamp reaction stops, keep adding more tablets. 

What Do We Observe

We observe that in the lava lamp experiment, the density of oil is much lower than that of water. Although the water and oil layers separate due to the densities the food couriering has the same density as that of water. As soon as we add the fizz tablets, small bubbles appear that come to the top and bring some water along with it. The bubbles disaster as soon as the reaction stops. You can keep your lava lamp actively working by adding more tablets from time to time. 

Solved Examples

What Chemical Reactions Take Place in The Lava Lamp Experiment? 

Ans: The Alka seltzer, when reacted with water, produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles. They stick to the water droplets. The water and gas combination is less dense than oil, and hence they rise to the top of the flask. The real lava lamps use polar and nonpolar liquids, just like the homemade ones do. The lava lamp experiment measures density and polarity. 

Can Wax Be Used in Some Lava Lamps? 

Ans: Yes. Lava lamps are often filled with wax, water, and other chemicals to make them look brighter and colorful.

Fun Facts About The Lava Lamp Experiment

The lava lamp was first discovered in the year 1948. The ideal lava lamp took 15 years to design.

There can never be two same lava lamps. 

Initially, lava lamps were considered to be unusual and luxurious items, but over time, they have become accessorized products. 

Lava lamps can be highly expensive too. 

The lava lamp experiment is a widespread and fun experiment for kids nowadays. 

The most massive lava lamp is said to hold thousands of gallons of lava. 

FAQs on Lava Lamp Experiment

1. Who Invented a Lava Lamp?

Sir Edward Walker first introduced the lava lamp in the year 1963. He is the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. His company has been designating lava lamps for more than 55 years now. Before him, many other people tried inventing the perfect lava lamp, but it took about 15 years for the ideal lava lamp to be made. Walker’s business became a huge success in the early ’60s and ’70s. Initially, the light bulb was not the beating source. But the founder was desperate to place a light bulb at the bottom as a beating source. Eventually, the plan worked, and we got the very first customized lava lamp. These lava lamps do not cast much light as compared to other light fixtures.

2. Why Does Their Given Name Know Lava Lamps?

Lava lamps are called so because when they are lit up, it looks like burning lava inside. But it is merely a lucid substance inside the fire consisting of water and oil. Lava lamps are used by children and adults alike for room decoration and as a light source too. During the night, kids can turn in the lava lamp and sleep peacefully without fearing the dark. The lamps emit some light, but it is not as bright as other light bulbs. Some lava lamps have unique wax coating material inside. This particular wax expands, and as a result, the liquid becomes less dense. Lava lamps are also known as artificial lamps.

• Properties Of Fluids

Can you recall the mesmerising feel of watching a lava lamp, with its large coloured bubbles rising, sinking and morphing? Guess what! You can make your lava lamp by using materials that are present at home. This is a  science experiment for class 5 , which explains the concepts of liquid density and chemical reactions.

Lava Lamp Experiment

Lava lamp works based on two important scientific principles – density and polarity. This can explain why oil and water don’t mix. Understand the working principle of a lava lamp clearly by performing the lava lamp experiment given here.

Materials for Lava Lamp Experiment

• A plastic bottle.
• Food colouring
• Vegetable oil
• Fizz tablets like Alka-Seltzer
• Fill the bottle with a quarter full of water. Use the funnel to fill the water so that water doesn’t spill outside.
• Add vegetable oil in the quarter-filled water bottle until it is full.
• Now, wait for a few minutes until the water and oil get separate.
• Add food colouring into the bottle.
• Now we can see that food colouring goes through oil and get mixed with water.
• Cut Fizz tablet into a few smaller pieces and drop only one piece in the bottle. This will start reacting and appears like a lava lamp.
• Whenever required, drop another piece of the tablet to make a flow of bubbling in case the lava lamp stops.

Observation

The density of oil is lower than the density of water,  and both don’t mix well. The water and oil that is added in the bottle stay separately due to its density. Meanwhile, the food colouring goes through oil and mixes with water because the food colouring has the same density of water.

When you drop a piece of fizz tablet in the bottle, it releases carbon dioxide that appears as a small bubble and reaches the top by taking some of the water along with it. Now the interesting part is when the bubbles disappear on the top, and the colour falls back. Adding more tablet keeps the reaction for the longer time so that you can enjoy the lava lamp for an extended period of time.

For more interesting experiments, below are the links:

• Tornado In a Bottle
• Anemometer – Measurement of Wind Speed

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

What are the scientific principles on which the lava lamp works, state true or false: the density of oil is higher than the density of water., does the oil mix with water, what is the relationship between density and temperature, what happens when the fizz tablet is dropped in the bottle.

Put your understanding of this concept to test by answering a few MCQs. Click ‘Start Quiz’ to begin!

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Chemistry project

Make a Lava Lamp

• Flask  or empty water bottle (a clear plastic bottle works well)
• Vegetable oil, cooking oil, or baby oil
• Food coloring
• Alka-Seltzer
• Fill the flask most of the way with your choice of oil.
• Fill the rest of the flask with water. The oil floats and the water sinks to the bottom of the jar under the oil and looks like little, clear blobs.
• Add a few drops of food coloring; your choice of color. The food coloring is water-based, so it will also sink and color the water that is now at the bottom of the flask.
• Break an Alka-seltzer tablet into a few small pieces, and drop them in the flask one at a time.
• Watch your lava lamp erupt into activity! As the chemical reaction slows down, simply add more Alka-seltzer.

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

Concept 1: Density

Density  is the measurement of how compact a substance is - how much of it fits in a certain amount of space.

(The scientific equation is  density = mass/volume .)

If you measure an equal volume of oil and water, you'll find that the water is heavier than the same amount of oil. This is because water molecules are packed more tightly; a cup of water actually has more mass than a cup of oil.

Because water is more dense than oil, it will sink to the bottom when the two are put in the same container. Density is affected by temperature—the hotter a liquid is, the less dense it will be.

Concept 2: Polarity

Polarity is the quality of having two oppositely charged poles.

Water molecules are "polar" because they have a lopsided electrical charge that attracts other atoms. The end of the molecule with the two hydrogen atoms is positively charged. The other end, with the oxygen, is negatively charged.

Just like in a magnet, where north poles are attracted to south poles ("opposites attract"), the positive end of the water molecule will connect with the negative end of other molecules.

Oil molecules, however, are non-polar— they don't have a positive or negative charge, so they are not attracted to the water molecules at all. This is why oil and water don't mix!

What Happened:

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Lava Lamp variation

Snowstorm in a Boiling Flask

• Boiling (or Florence) Flask ; or any clear glassware
• White Paint
• Glitter (white or blue)
• Alka-seltzer
• Mix about 1tsp of white paint with about 100 ml of water
• Add a generous amount of glitter to the mixture
• Pour the white, glittered water into the  boiling flask  (or any  clear glassware) . This should fill your  glassware  about 1/5th full
• Fill the rest of the  glassware  with baby oil. The clear baby oil is less dense than the water mixture and will stay on top
• Break an  alka-seltzer tablet  into a few small pieces
• Drop the  alka-selzer pieces  in the flask one at a time.
• Watch as the snowstorm appears!
• As the reaction slows down, simply add more  alka-seltzer.

Just like in the lava lamp project our homemade snowstorm was created when we used  alka-seltzer  to react with the water to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These stick to the water droplets. The water / gas combo is less dense than the oil, so they rise to the top of the flask. At the top, the gas bubbles pop and escape into the air, allowing the dense water to sink back to the bottom again. Refer to the science lesson from the lava lamp project above or print this free lesson. 

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more in 10-12 years

Blobs in a bottle.

You will need

• A clean 1 liter clear soda bottle
• 3/4 cup of water
• Vegetable Oil
• Fizzing tablets (such as Alka Seltzer)
• Food coloring
• Pour the water into the bottle.
• Use a measuring cup or funnel to slowly pour the vegetable oil into the bottle until it’s almost full. You may have to wait a few minutes for the oil and water separate.
• Add 10 drops of food coloring to the bottle (we like red, but any color will look great.) The drops will pass through the oil and then mix with the water below.
• Break a seltzer tablet in half and drop the half tablet into the bottle. Watch it sink to the bottom and let the blobby greatness begin!
• To keep the effect going, just add another tablet piece. For a true lava lamp effect, shine a flashlight through the bottom of the bottle.

How does it work?

To begin, the oil stays above the water because the oil is lighter than the water or, more specifically, less dense than water. The oil and water do not mix because of something called “intermolecular polarity.” That term is fun to bring up in dinner conversation. Molecular polarity basically means that water molecules are attracted to other water molecules. They get along fine, and can loosely bond together (drops.) This is similar to magnets that are attracted to each other. Oil molecules are attracted to other oil molecules, they get along fine as well. But the structures of the two molecules do not allow them to bond together. Of course, there’s a lot more fancy scientific language to describe density and molecular polarity, but maybe now you’ll at least look at that vinegrette salad dessing in a whole new way.

When you added the tablet piece, it sank to the bottom and started dissolving and creating a gas. As the gas bubbles rose, they took some of the colored water with them. When the blob of water reached the top, the gas escaped and down went the water. Cool, huh? By the way, you can store your “Blobs In A Bottle” with the cap on, and then anytime you want to bring it back to life, just add another tablet piece.

MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT

The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:

• Does the temperature of the water affect the reaction?
• Does the size of the bottle affect how many blobs are produced?
• Does the effect still work if the cap is put on the bottle?
• Does the size of the tablet pieces affect the number of blobs created?

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Science Fun

DIY Lava Lamp Chemical Reaction Science Experiment

In this fun and easy science experiment, we are going to show you how to make a DIY lava lamp by using a chemical reaction. Most do-it-yourself lava lamp science experiments require the use of an Alka-Seltzer tablet, but in this version we are going to show you how to make an awesome lava lamp with a few items you probably already have in your kitchen. This is a great visual science experiment to observe and also provides insight into density. 

• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup of vinegar
• Food coloring
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon water
• Clear cup or glass
• Small bowl or cup
• Tray to catch and contain any spills caused by the bubbling chemical reaction.  

Instructions:

• Place the glass in the tray. 
• Add the 1 cup of vegetable oil to the glass.
• Next, add the 1/4 cup of vinegar.
• Add 4 to 8 drop of food coloring. 
• Mix well with the spoon.
• Now mix the baking soda and water in the small bowl. 
• Pour the baking soda and water mixture into the glass.
• Observe what happens. 

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How it Works:

The oil is less dense and thus seems to float on the vinegar. The oil is also less dense than the baking soda and water mixture. When the mixture is poured into the glass, it sinks to the bottom and the chemical reaction occurs between the baking soda and vinegar. This endothermic chemical reaction creates carbon dioxide as well as causes the glass to cool noticeably. As the carbon dioxide bubbles rise toward the surface, little globs of colored water stick to the bubbles creating the lava lamp effect. As the bubbles reach the surface, they pop, and the colored water sinks back toward the bottom of the glass. 

Make This A Science Project:

Does the temperature of the vinegar effect the chemical reaction? Do other types of oil behave differently than the vegetable oil. Do different amounts of water or baking soda cause any noticeable changes in the chemical reaction?  

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Science Projects > Chemistry Projects > How To Make A Homemade Lava Lamp + Video  

How To Make A Homemade Lava Lamp + Video

You know the mesmerizing feel of watching a lava lamp, with its large colored bubbles sinking and rising and morphing. With this project, you can make your own (temporary) lava lamp with household materials! It’s easy and safe, and it looks very cool.

Check out our project video to see the homemade lava lamp in action!

What You Need:

• Flask or bottle
• Vegetable oil
• Food coloring
• Alka-seltzer

What You Do:

1. Fill the flask most of the way with vegetable oil.

2. Fill the rest of the flask with water. The water will sink to the bottom under the oil.

3. Add a few drops of food coloring; your choice of color. The food coloring is water-based, so it will also sink and color the water that is now at the bottom of the flask.

4. Break an alka-seltzer tablet into a few small pieces, and drop them in the flask one at a time.

5. Watch your lava lamp erupt into activity! As the reaction slows down, simply add more alka-seltzer.

What Happened:

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

• Density is the measurement of how compact a substance is – how much of it fits in a certain amount of space. (The scientific equation is density = mass/volume .) If you measure an equal volume of oil and water, you’ll find that the water is heavier than the same amount of oil. This is because water molecules are packed more tightly and a cup of water actually has more mass than a cup of oil. Because water is more dense than oil, it will sink to the bottom when the two are put in the same container. Density is affected by temperature—the hotter a liquid is, the less dense it will be.

Real lava lamps use a polar and non-polar liquid just like our homemade one did. In a real one, however, the densities of the liquids are much closer together than vegetable oil and water. The denser liquid sinks to the bottom, but the lava lamp light heats it up until it expands and becomes less dense, causing it to rise upward. As it gets farther from the light, it cools down, becoming more dense again until it sinks; then the cycle starts all over.

Instead of using a light, in our homemade lava lamp we used alka-seltzer to power the lamp. The alka-seltzer reacts with the water to produce carbon dioxide gas bubbles. These stick to the water droplets. The water/gas combo is less dense than the oil, so they rise to the top of the flask. At the top, the gas bubbles pop and escape into the air, allowing the dense water to sink back to the bottom again.

Lava lamps powered by heat are trickier to make and can use more hazardous materials. You can experiment fairly safely with things like rubbing alcohol and mineral oil or lamp oil. See if you can make a lamp powered by heat!

More Density Science Projects

Rainbow density column.

Using a knowledge of liquid density, you can easily “stack” several liquids on top of each other! Use food coloring to make a rainbow of colors.

• Liquids of different densities: honey, corn syrup, dish soap, water, vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol
• Graduated cylinder or tall glass or jar
• Pipets (medicine droppers)

1. Pour an inch (or however much you want) of honey into the bottom of the cylinder or glass.

2. Use food coloring to color a little bit of corn syrup (if it’s the light kind; just leave it brown if it’s the dark kind). Slowly and carefully pour an inch of the corn syrup on top of the honey.

3. Color some liquid dish soap and carefully add an inch on top of the corn syrup. You may find it easier to use a pipet for this one instead of pouring.

4. Next, use a pipet to add an inch of colored water on top of the dish soap.

5. You won’t be able to color the vegetable oil, because food coloring is water-based and water and oil don’t mix! Go ahead and add an inch of oil on top of the water.

6. Finish it off with an inch of colored rubbing alcohol. (If you have lamp oil, you could also add that to the very top.)

7. Voila – a beautiful rainbow of stacked liquids!

Each of the liquids you used had a different density . You added them to the cylinder in order of most dense (honey) to least dense (rubbing alcohol). Since each new liquid was less dense than the one before it, it floated on top instead of mixing together. You can try other liquids, if you want to! To figure out where your new liquid would fit in the column, you can measure the density of all the liquids. Measure an exactly equal volume of each liquid and weigh it (be sure to subtract the weight of the container). Even though the amount of liquid is the same, the denser ones will be heavier. (Density = mass/volume.)

There are many different things that affect density, such as temperature. Heat causes substances to expand and become less dense, while cold causes them to contract and become more dense. (One exception is water – it becomes more dense with cold until the freezing point, but it freezes in a crystalline structure that makes ice less dense than liquid water.) Adding things to a liquid will also change its density. For example, salt water is more dense than regular water (which is why it’s easier to float in salt water than in fresh water!). You can try building a density column using only colored water. Try stacking hot, cold, and room temperature water, or try building a column with salt water, sugar water, and fresh water.

Now that we’ve explored the fascinating world of density columns in our previous experiment, it’s time to take our learning to the next level with a fun and delicious twist! In this exciting adaptation, we’ll be using everyday coffee ingredients to create a coffee-themed density column. This hands-on experiment not only builds on our understanding of density but also adds a flavorful twist to our scientific exploration. So, grab your lab aprons and get ready to brew up some knowledge as we dive into the world of coffee and chemistry!

Coffee Density Column

If you’re like us and love coffee almost as much as science, try this density column adaptation with coffee ingredients.

Layer the following ingredients carefully from the bottom up: -Honey -Your favorite flavor syrups -Low fat Milk -Coffee -Whipped Cream

More Fun Projects:

• Check out the science of scuba divers and submarines when you make a cartesian diver
• See how density affects the weather when you make a colorful convection current
• See the difference salt can make when you simulate the density of the Great Salt Lake

Density Science Lesson

Forget the life jacket. The Dead Sea contains the saltiest water on earth, which is also the densest water found naturally on earth! You don’t need flotation devices if you are swimming in the Dead Sea. Your body’s density is already much less than the water’s, so the only thing you can do is float higher than you ever would in fresh water!

Freeze and float. Most liquids contract when they freeze, making them more dense in their solid form than in their liquid form. (They have the same mass, but it’s packed into a smaller volume.) Water does the opposite: it expands as it freezes, lowering the density. Since ice is less dense than water, it floats. And it’s a good thing it does! If water acted like most other liquids, lakes and rivers would freeze solid and all life in them would die. Instead, a layer of ice forms on the surface, leaving liquid water underneath.

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Homemade Lava Lamps: Chemistry in action!

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Did you have a lava lamp growing up? As it turns out, it is easy and inexpensive to create your own lava lamp while learning a thing or two about chemistry.

Creating your own lava lamp is a great way to showcase the reaction between vinegar and baking soda to your child in a colorful way. Plus, given the nature of this experiment, the reaction continues for quite some time!

It’s easy to set up and there are tons of lessons you can teach your child with this experiment, including chemistry, how colors mix to create new colors, and challenging their fine motor skills.

How to make the Lava Lamp science experiment

Supplies you will need.

For the Lava Lamp experiment, you’ll need:

• A container (we used a tall mason jar)
• Cooking oil
• Baking soda
• Food coloring

Before you start

Due to the reaction occurring in this experiment, do not use a lid on your container!

Instructions

Here is how to do the Lava Lamp science experiment with your toddler:

Step 1: Add baking soda to the container

Add enough baking soda to cover the bottom of your container, plus a little extra.

Get your child involved : Have your child add the baking soda to the container! I helped guide the baking soda to the container and then let her pour it. It’s great for helping your child follow directions!

Step 2: Add cooking oil to the container

Start pouring the cooking oil directly on top of the baking soda. Don’t worry – they won’t mix. Even if they mix at first, the baking soda will settle back to the bottom of your container.

Since the cooking oil is where you will see the action of this experiment – don’t skimp! I filled my container about 1/2 full with cooking oil, but that’s because we were running low. Ideally, I would have filled it about 2/3 full!

Get your child involved : I also let my child pour in the cooking oil. Since the cooking oil bottle was pretty large and heavy, I helped her get the bottle up to the mason jar and helped her start pouring. From there, she poured the rest.

Step 3: Create your colored vinegar in a separate container

I used a small ramekin for my colored vinegar. I filled it about halfway full, then added 3-4 drops of food coloring (you can add more if you want a deeper color). Then, use your pipette to give it a good swirl to mix it together.

Get your child involved : Let your child add however many droplets of food coloring to your vinegar. Even better if you can mix colors to create new colors, then talk about it!

Step 4: Use a pipette to add colored vinegar to the container

The reaction will be pretty slow at first because there is quite a bit of baking soda at the bottom of the mason jar and very little vinegar.

The more colored vinegar you add, the bigger the reaction!

Get your child involved : Allow your child to do this step entirely on their own! It’s fantastic for fine motor skills and it lets them take charge of the reaction.

Try experimenting

We wanted to see what would happen if we added multiple colors to the experiment at once.

• Would the colors mix into one color?
• Would each individual color stay intact?

We found that each color stayed separate from the others, giving us a pretty neat-looking lava lamp! Be sure to hit play in the video below to watch the individual colors in the lava lamp.

The science behind the Lava Lamp science experiment

The Lava Lamp experiment is excellent for learning about chemistry and seeing the reaction between an acid and a base!

How it works

The Lava Lamp experiment is a classic vinegar-baking soda experiment. The difference this time is that the reaction takes place in the cooking oil, creating colorful beads bouncing around.

As we add the colored vinegar to the container, it sinks to the bottom because vinegar is more dense than oil.

Once it reaches the baking soda at the bottom of the container, it creates carbon dioxide bubbles mixed with vinegar, which float to the surface of the oil. When it reaches the surface, the bubble pops and colored vinegar sinks back down to cause another reaction. This is how you see dancing colored bubbles.

More chemistry experiments to try out with your child

• Fizzing lemons experiment – using lemons and baking soda to make a lemon volcano
• Magic Milk experiment – an explosion of colors with a chemical reaction lesson
• Fizzing paint experiment – another vinegar and baking soda reaction, but with an artistic twist!

FAQ about the Lava Lamp Science Experiment

How do you make the lava lamp experiment with alka seltzer.

Since Alka Seltzer provides carbon dioxide bubbles without the use of vinegar and baking soda, you will need fewer ingredients for the lava lamp experiment.

Simply fill the bottom of your container 1/3 of the way full with water, add the food coloring you desire, fill the rest of your container with oil, and add the Alka Seltzer.

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How To Make A DIY Lava Lamp With Baking Soda

July 28, 2020 by Ana Dziengel 1 Comment

Let’s learn how to make a DIY lava lamp  using  Arm & Hammer Baking Soda ! This is a mess-free chemical reaction that will mesmerize kids!

This post is sponsored by Arm & Hammer. All opinions are my own.

I have made DIY lava lamps many different ways over the years but this is the first time I tried it with a layer of baking soda at the bottom. What I love most about this method is you can continue to activate it for a loooooong time and that means parents, you might just get an extra 5 minutes to yourself today.

Today’s project is the second science experiment of Arm & Hammer Summer Camp!  I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of this fantastic summer resource as the science counselor!

DIY Lava Lamp

Downloadable directions here.

• 1 clear plastic bottle or jar with cap
• 4 tablespoons of ARM & HAMMER™ Baking Soda
• 12 ounces of vegetable oil (may need more or less depending on the bottle size)
• ¼ cup vinegar
• Food coloring
• Plastic cup
• Pipette or eye dropper
• Measuring cup

Instructions

Time needed:  15 minutes.

Using the funnel, pour 4 tablespoons of ARM & HAMMER™ Baking Soda into the bottle or jar. Let it settle into a flat layer at the bottom of the bottle.

Pour in the vegetable oil carefully to avoid disturbing the layer of ARM & HAMMER™ Baking Soda and set aside.

Pour vinegar into the plastic cup. Add 3-4 drops of food color and stir to combine.

Use the pipette to add 5-6 drops of colored vinegar to the plastic bottle. Watch the reaction.

Continue to add drops of vinegar until bubbles stop floating to the surface. If your pipette is long enough you can also stick it down into the layer of baking soda for a big burst of action!

Tips/Suggestions: 

• Even though this DIY lava lamp is a mess free chemical reaction, I recommend doing this on a tray to protect the surface below during the pouring process.
• If you use multiple colors of vinegar eventually the colors will combine.
• Try doing this in different sized containers. Does the container shape alter or change the look of the lava lamp reaction?

The science behind a DIY lava lamp

Acid/base chemical reactions.

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a chemical compound known as a base . A base is substance that releases hydroxide ions when combined with water. An acid is a substance that contains a high concentration of positive hydrogen ions. In this experiment vinegar is the acid.

When an acid and a base are combined, a chemical reaction occurs. During a chemical reaction, chemical bonds in a substance are either destroyed or created. When sodium bicarbonate and vinegar are combined they react and produce carbon dioxide, a gas which you see bubble up as soon as the vinegar droplets come into contact with the baking soda.

We have more chemical reactions you can try here!

Oil and vinegar do not mix because of polarity. Polarity is a concept used to describe how certain molecules are attracted to or repel other molecules. Vinegar is an acid and its molecules are polar, meaning the molecules have slightly charged poles. Polar molecules are attached to each other.

Oil contains fatty acids and non-polar molecules which are attracted to other non-polar molecules. Polar and non-polar molecules repel each other, therefore the vinegar droplets will not mix with the oil, giving you a colorful lava lamp style display.

I love this simple DIY lava lamp experiment because you can make it using just a few simple pantry ingredients and recycled jar. It doesn’t  get any easier than this! If you missed yesterday’s camp science experiment, go here.

If you enjoyed this experiment and would like to see the other fun Arm & Hammer Summer Camp activities, check out Arm & Hammer’s YouTube channel.

Brenda Lang says

December 22, 2020 at 5:54 am

Omgosh! This is too cool. Can’t wait to try this out but not until after Christmas.

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