Lava Lamp

Instructions:

1. Please gather materials: Vegetable Oil, Water, Food coloring , Alka Seltzer.

2. To begin, color about 1/2 cup of water with food coloring.

3. Take the Alka Seltzer tablets and break them into 2 or 3 pieces. Place them in a small cup or container.

4. Fill a glass about 3/4 full with vegetable oil. Then pour in the colored water until the liquid in the cup is about 1-2 inches from the top.

5. You don’t want it to overflow! Well, unless you want to turn it into an eruption experiment too.

6. Take turns adding a piece of an Alka Seltzer table to the cup.

InterACTions:

• Would you like to play with me and pretend to be a scientist today?

• What do you think a scientist is?

• Let’s start!

• What did you notice?

• What happens to the water and the oil?

• The water and oil do not mix and the oil doesn’t change color because the food coloring is water soluble. The Alka Seltzer reacts with the water to make bubbles of carbon dioxide. The bubbles attach themselves to the blobs of colored water and bring them to the top of the glass. When the bubbles pop the blobs of colored water fall back to the bottom of the glass.

• Let’s use your floorbook to draw your observations.