How To Make A Homemade Lava Lamp

Lamps have become a staple object inside our houses. You can put it in the living room, in your bedroom, study room, or in whatever room you want. Some lamps are meant to illuminate the room while some lamps are dim just to set the ambiance. A lava lamp is a lamp that can beautify your space. It's something that you can buy at the store, or you can make it by yourself. Find out how to make a homemade lava lamp.

What Makes A Lava Lamp 

A lava lamp is a mix of wax and oil that doesn't blend, thus creating this blob of wax drifting on it's liquid. Liquids and wax have varying densities and are totally insoluble. This fluid mechanics produced by heating a metallic wire coil at the bottom of the lamp is what makes this liquid motion. The wax gradually expands as it absorbs heat. Once it happens, lava becomes less dense and arises in the flowing motion and forms pretty shapes. The wax cools down at the top of the lamp and then comes back at the bottom of the lamp where it gets heats up again.

Let's Make Some Lava Lamp

Here's how to make a homemade lava lamp. It's very easy and inexpensive.

Things you need:

• Clear oil
  
• Water
  
• Food coloring (any color you want)
  
• Alka-Seltzer Tablets (use salt as a substitute)
  
• Clear bottle container
  
• Torch lamp or cellphone light (for the glowing effect)

What you need to do:

Step 1: Rinse out the bottle container.

Make use of the empty bottle container you have at home that's lying around. Make sure to clean it first to remove any dirt sticking on the bottle so it will be really clear.

Step 2: Add oil

Fill the bottle with about 3/4 of oil.

Step 3: Add water

Fill the remaining 1/4 of the bottle with water.

Step 4: Add food coloring

Add about ten drops of food coloring or just about right to make it appear moderately dark. Then wait until the water and oil separate.

Step 5: Add some glitters 

This step is optional. In case you want your lava lamp to be sparkly, go add those glitters.

Step 5: Let it glow

Place the flashlight or cellphone light under the bottle for the glowing effect.

Step 6: Drop the Alka-Seltzer tablet

Now, this is where the magic happens. Add the Alka-Setzer tablet inside the bottle and enjoy watching your homemade lava lamp. You can also use salt as a substitute for the Alka-Setzer tablet. Make sure to use a tablespoon when you gradually pour the salt in the bottle.

Homemade Lava Lamp Explained

Here's the explanation of what happened with your homemade lava lamp. Oil and water are insoluble. Since oil is lighter, it rose to the surface. When you added the Alka-Setzer tablet or salt, it sank to the bottom. As blobs of oil attached to the grains and sank, the Alka-Setzer tablet dissolved, and the oil returned to the top.

Conclusion

Making a homemade lava lamp is a great activity you can do with your family. You get to bond and creating something pretty and useful at the same time.