Learn about science this Valentine’s Day with this fun Valentine’s lava lamp science experiment! Kids will have a blast with this Valentine’s Day STEM activity!
You know what my kids love? Things that fizz and bubble. They are delighted to play with anything that is fizzy. One of our favorite activities are lava lamps, not only because they are fizzy, but also because they are an easy way to show kids how gasses can move through liquids and make bubbles.
The lava lamp science experiment is a fun way to explain how their burps work, and if your kids are anything like mine, they are oddly fascinated by burping.
You may also like: Valentine’s Day Coding Challenge, Valentine’s Day confetti slime, and Valentine’s Day conversation heart structures!
Valentine’s Day Lava Lamp Science Experiment
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This fun lava lamp science experiment will keep your kids happy this Valentine’s Day!
What you’ll need for the Valentine’s Day lava lamp science experiment:
- Science beaker (or you can use a cup or jar)
- Pink food coloring
- White glitter
- Alka seltzer tablets
- Water
- Vegetable oil or baby oil
First, fill the beaker 3/4 of the way full with oil. Add about a 1/3 inch line of pink water to the cup.
Add white glitter to the jar for extra sparkle. You can also add heart confetti.
Place the jar on a surface where kids can look at it at eye-level.
Drop in a quarter of an Alka seltzer tablet into the jar. Watch the bubbles fly high!
The more tablet you put in, the more vigorously it will boil.
You can repeat this activity for as long as you have tablets! My kids find it so fascinating, they try to use an entire box of tablets in one day (which is why I buy my Alka seltzer tablets in bulk).
Lava Lamp Science
Oil is less dense than water, so it remains on the surface of the colored water. Additionally, inter-molecular polarity prevents oil and water from mixing (oil molecules are not attracted to water molecules). But, when you add alka seltzer tablets, which contain citric acid and baking soda that react when placed in water, creating carbon dioxide. The gas is less dense than either the water or the oil, but the gas bubbles take some of the water with them. Then, when the gas rises to the top of the oil, the heavier water drops back down, creating a bubbling lava lamp effect.
