For the first experiment in our second chapter, “Kitchen Chemistry”, Bubbling Lava Bottle was colorfully entertaining. I took a 16-ounce soda bottle that came with one of my kits and filled it three-fourths full of vegetable oil.
For the remaining space, I filled it with water from my tap.
As some of you may know, water is more dense than vegetable oil. Thus the water eventually found its way and made friends with the bottom of the bottle.
After waiting for most of the water to maneuver itself to the bottom, I added many drops of red food coloring. The red dots slowly sunk to the bottom and took its time mixing with the water.
While we were waiting for the food coloring to mix, we had some fun with the camera.
BOTTLE FACE!!
When the food coloring was mixed in well I took a antacid tablet and dropped it into the bottle. It was supposed to start fizzing… but noooo. I needed Alka-Seltzer tablets. I thought antacid tablets and Alka-Seltzer tablets were the same thing.
After a lesson learned, my momma saved the day once again. She found some Alka-Seltzer tablets for me from a previous birthday party (It was a science party).
I then broke the tablet into fourths and put one in the bottle. TA-DA!! The carbon-dioxide bubbles made from the tablet attached themselves to the colored blobs of water and carry them to the surface making a lava lamp… but without the lamp!
That is really cool, but it is not the coolest part! I took a big powerful flashlight and you are supposed to put the bottle directly on top of the lens of the flashlight but my flashlight had a round lens so I took some cooling racks and put it on some books. By placing the light underneath the rack, it was perfect!
I turned on the flashlight and turned off my bedroom light. By dropping another quarter of a tablet in the bottle, the colorful show began!
As Mr. Spangler said, “Groovy, baby!”
With that, a great day of science which should always be enjoyed. Have a great week!
