Make Lava At Home: A Fun Experiment
Can you imagine the feeling when someone gets to see the real lava? The thought of lava coming out of a volcano is frightening. People usually get mesmerised by seeing it in real life. But everybody cannot see lava every day. However, it does not stop anyone from making their lava and enjoying performing a scientific experiment at home.
Though real lava is dangerous, fake lava is not, but only if you carefully follow the instructions. So, here we have discussed different ways how to make lava at home. You can also do your lava lamp experiment with your friends by following our instructions.
How to Make Lava Volcano at Home?
Make Lava Volcano
There is not just one way to make lava at home. Of course, students cannot take up the challenge of knowing how to make real lava because that may burn down their houses, but they can surely make a fake one. So, here is how to make fake lava for a volcano.
Required Materials
Plastic bottle
Cup or any jar
Bowl
Water
½ cup of vinegar
Dishwashing soap
Tray
Funnel
Food colouring
½ cup baking soda
Fluorescent paint
Clay
Method
Firstly, take the cap off of a plastic bottle.
Now, keep the bottle on the surface. The surface needs to be flat and smooth.
Take clay and keep covering the bottle with the clay until you get a cone shape.
Always remember not to cover the top of the bottle. The mouth of the bottle should stay open because you need to pour ingredients inside the bottle using this hole.
Now, you can use fluorescent paint to give it some colour. If you want to keep it simple, you can do it too. In that case, you do not have to paint it or do anything.
Since the surrounding area of the volcano can get messy after it explodes, you can take a tray and keep it inside.
Take a funnel and keep it on top of the bottle. Using this funnel, you can pour the ingredients easily without making the place a dirty mess.
Pour some baking soda into a bowl. Make sure the baking soda does not get clumped up. If the soda has clumped up, you can place a sieve over the funnel to break up the clumps.
Once you pour the baking soda inside the bottle, it is time to pour the other ingredients. Put ½ cup of vinegar into the cap of the vinegar bottle and pour it into the bottle using the funnel.
Then take a few drops of dishwashing gel and put it inside the bottle. Remember, the quantity of vinegar determines how much dishwashing gel you need to use.
Once you have done everything and poured every ingredient, it is time to give a little colour to your lava. It is one of the most important steps of knowing how to make fake lava for a volcano. Take a few drops of food colour in a spoon and add them to the vinegar.
Add 1 teaspoon of fluorescent paint to the vinegar and mix the ingredients well.
Now pour the vinegar into the bottle using the funnel. That is it. When the vinegar gets mixed with the baking soda, it oozes out of the top of the bottle. Now that you know how to make real lava make it with your siblings or friends and have fun.
Make Lava in a Bag
Required Materials
Baby oil
Ziploc bag
Water
Cup
Fluorescent paint
Method
Take a Ziploc bag and fill the bag with ¼ or ⅓ baby oil. You can take any clear oil. But remember, the size of the Ziploc bag determines how much oil you need to pour into the bag.
Take a small cup and pour 1 part of hot water and 1 part of fluorescent paint.
Now take a spoon and mix it well. You can also add some glitter to get sparkled lava.
Now add the mixture to the oil you have poured into the Ziploc bag. Remember this step especially to know how to make lava at home because if the mixture is not good or you fail to measure the mixture, then you cannot get the perfect result.
You can see the mixture does not get blended into the oil. It does not mean you do not know how to make real lava or you have made some mistake. It means the mixture does not get mixed with the oil and instead forms globs.
Now close the bag half and try to squeeze the bag as much as you can to let the extra air pass.
Make sure that the bag has no air and is tightly sealed. That is enough. Your lava is now ready.
How to Make Lava Lamp at Home?
Make Lava Volcano at Home
Required Materials
Water bottle
Water
Alka seltzer tablet
Baby oil
Food colour
Method
To go through a lava lamp experiment, firstly, fill most of the water bottle with any baby oil.
Fill the rest of the bottle with water.
The water goes down to the bottle, and the oil starts floating on the top. This is an important step you must follow to know how to make a lava lamp.
Add a few drops of food colour to the oil and water in the bottle. It gives a beautiful colour to the lava.
Now, to know how to make lava lamp, you need to know how to use the Alka seltzer tablet. Break the tablet.
Drop the pieces into the bottle one at a time. Now, you can see the lava coming out of the bottle.
Conclusion
Seeing real lava is not a day-to-day experience. But you can always make your lava at home as a science experiment. You can indulge in some productive playful activity by trying to make lava lamps. But whatever the reason is, make sure that you follow the instructions carefully.
