Science for Kids: Lava Lamp

Doing science projects with the kids is always fun.  Remember growing up with lava lamps?  Well here is a chance to so your kids what a lave lamp looked like without having to buy one.  This experiment is good to answer the questions:  What is ligher, oil or water?  What happens when oil and water mix?

There are only a few supplies you need for this project:

1. Vegtable oil
2.  A couple Alka-Seltzer tablets
3.  Food coloring
4.  Empty Soda or water bottle

Once you have all the supplies then you just need to fill the empty soda bottle about 1/4 full of water.  Then slowly add the vegtable oil to the bottle.  Add about 3-5 drops of food coloring which will go through the oil and settle into the water.  

Now you just have to add an Alka-Seltzer tablet to have your very own short lived lava lamp. Once the bubbling stops you can add another tablet to get it going again.  Just don't put the cap on the bottle while the Alka-Seltzer tablet is going so you won't have the gas build up and have a big mess to clean up.    Other things to try is to see how different temperature of the oil (cool vs warm) affect the bubbling.  Have fun!