Science Club: Homemade Lava Lamps

This week in Science Club we made lava lamps. It turned out really cool and the kids loved it.

Materials Needed: Water bottle, vegetable oil, food coloring, funnel, and alka seltzer tablets. 

             I used 12 oz water bottles and bought 1 gallon of vegetable oil. (This was enough vegetable oil

             to do 15 bottles. ) 

Instructions: 

    1) Drink or pour out 2/3 of the water. Leaving 1/3 still in the bottle. 

    2) Using the funnel, fill the bottle back to the top with vegetable oil.
        (I didn't fill all the way to the top)

    3) Put 8-12 drops of your choice of food coloring. Don't shake. Let the drops drop on their own.
        (It's cool to watch.)  

    4) After the food coloring has colored the water, place 1/6 of a tablet into the bottle. 

    5) Watch the bubbles! 

    6) When the bubbles stop you can add another piece of tablet and it will bubble again. 

Here are some pictures of the finished product! 

Green turned out great! 

Blue 

Red, but it kinda looks like orange 

Yellow: It works, but not as pretty as the darker colors!