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Make your own lava lamp

What could be more cool than making a lava lamp with stuff you already have? With just a few items from your kitchen you can create a bubbling version of a lava lamp. To get started gather up some vegetable oil, water, food coloring, a plastic bottle and some effervescing (the bubbling kind) antacid tablets.

Start by cleaning out the bottle and filling it with about 2 inches of water. Now pour in the vegetable oil to nearly the top. In order to color your lava, you will need to add several drops of food coloring. Notice that the food coloring does not mix or color the oil as the drops sink.

Materials:

  • Plastic bottle (any size)
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Water
  • Effervescing antacid tablet
  • Food Coloring

What to do:

1. Fill the plastic bottle with 2 inches of water.
2. Fill to nearly the top with vegetable oil.
3. Put in 5 or 6 drops of food coloring.
4. Drop in an effervescing antacid tablet and you have just made your very own lava lamp.
5. Try putting a large flashlight under the bottle see what the lava lamp looks like with a light. It’s cool!

What is the Science?

The first thing you notice it that the oil floats on top of the water. Oil and water do not mix. When you drop the antacid tablet into the top of the bottle it falls through the oil without any sort of reaction. When it hits the water, the acid and base powders that make up the tablet combine as they dissolve in the water and release carbon dioxide gas bubbles.

The gas rises and takes some of the colored water along with it up through the oil layer. When this glob of water and bubbles reaches the top of the oil, the gas escapes. Without the gas to lift it, the water droplet falls back to the bottom of the bottle. This cycle will repeat until all of the antacid is used up.

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About the author

Carl Nelson is the Chief Scientist and Exhibits Director at Imagination Station in Toledo, Ohio. He has a Masters Degree in Experimental Physics from Michigan State University and over 18 years experience working in science centers.

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