Bubble bubble toil and trouble! OK, there’s no actual trouble here, in fact, this activity involves a whole lot of safe science fun! Do expect to see tons of bubbles however, enough bubbles to light up little eyes as they are introduced to the wonderful world that we call SCIENCE! This experiment is safe to do at home and older kids can even do it on their own, as long as you are there to make sure they do not consume their “lava lamps”. While the mixture is not toxic, it could upset little tummies.

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Bubbly Potion For Little Scientists

For this experiment you will need the following:

• Plenty of Alka Seltzer tablets (or sodium bicarbonate)
• Cooking oil (coconut oil is nice and clear when melted)
• Water
• Food colouring of your choice
• Science beakers or glass jars

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THE EXPERIMENT:

1. Pour the oil to your beakers, filling them to about two thirds of the way.
2. Add some water, to fill about 3 cm’s of the bottom of the beakers.
3. Add the food colouring at watch it trickle down to the water (this is just as much fun as the actual aim of the experiment). Alternatively, you can mix the food colouring with the water, before pouring it in (not as much fun though)!
4. Allow your potion to settle, do not mix it. Let the water and food colouring fall to the bottom.
5. Once everything has settled you can divide your Alka Seltzer tablets into 4 pieces and drop them into your beakers one at time (or sprinkle in your sodium bicarbonate).
6. Observe as the water bubbles up into the oil, creating a “mad” potion.

THE SCIENCE BIT

As you can tell when you set this up, water is heavier than oil. Intermolecular polarity keeps things separated (basically, oil and water molecules don’t like mixing). But when the alka seltzer tablet is added, it creates gas when it dissolves. When the gas rises, it takes some of the water along with it. The blobs of water/gas reach the surface of the water and when the gas escapes, the water blob falls back to the bottom of the beaker. - http://www.schoolingamonkey.com/halloween-science-projects-spider-leg-potion/

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Source Link: https://funlearningforkids.com/super-cool-lava-lamp-experiment/

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Encourage your youngsters to spend some time adding a few of the tablets one at a time. My three-year-old LOVES bubbles, so you could even do this “trick” to entertain preschoolers, and adults too in fact - it makes for an awesome party trick!  You can get even more creative and add glitter, cake sprinkles or anything tiny and light in weight, these items will lift up with the water for an added effect.

Much love - @sweetpea

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