Materials:
-1 16oz. Plastic Soda Bottle
-12 oz. Vegetable Oil
-Water
-Alka-Seltzer
-Food Coloring
Procedure:
Fill a 16 oz. pop bottle 3/4 full with vegetable oil. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and add about 10 drops of food coloring. Divide the Alka-Selter into 6 to 8 pieces. Drop one of the small pieces of Alka-Seltzer into the oil and water. Continue to add Alka-Seltzer to keep the bubbles. You have just created a lava lamp!
What's Going On?
Water and oil do not like to mix. Since water is more dense it will reside at the bottom of the pop bottle. Food coloring will only mix with the water. Alka-Seltzer reacts with the water and creates tiny bubbles of Carbon Dioxide gas. These bubbles take blobs of colored water along for the ride as they rise to the top of the pop bottle. When the Carbon Dioxide is release at the top of the bottle the water blobs will fall slowly back to the bottom. It's a lava lamp!
