These easy homemade liquid motion lamps are the best way to entertain kids

We all know kids require a whole lot of attention, and sometimes it gets boring playing the same games and reading the same books over and over again.

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Boy genius Anson Wong prefers to spend his free time conducting science experiments in his kitchen, using things he can find around his house.

RELATED: This five year old genius is very passionate about breathing 

In a recent science demonstration, Anson and his producer, Jessica, showed us how to make a liquid motion lamp. Everyone loves these wiggly, wobbly lamps, and who knew they were so easy to make!

What you need

All you need for this experiment is:

  1. Vegetable oil
  2. Water
  3. Food coloring
  4. Seltzer tablets
  5. A clear bottle

What to do

  1. Fill the bottle about 3/4 full with vegetable oil.
  2. In a separate cup, add some food coloring to some water.
  3. Carefully pour the colored water into the vegetable oil. The water will sink to the bottom of the bottle.
  4. Break the seltzer tablets into fourths. You’ll probably need about 2-3 tablets per liquid motion lamp.
  5. Drop the seltzer tablets into the bottle and watch the fizzy experiment happen!
  6. For some extra fun, turn off the lights and shine a flashlight through the bottom of the bottle.

How it works

The oil and water separate from each other because they have different densities. Water is more dense than oil, so it sinks to the bottom of the bottle. Oil and water don’t mix because they have intermolecular polarity, which means they like to stick to other water/oil molecules.

When you drop the seltzer tablet into the bottle, it starts dissolving. The tablet is made up of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda. If you’ve kept up with Anson’s other experiments, you’ll know by now that baking soda is a base. And of course, when and acid comes into contact with a base, the two neutralize each other, in this case turning into a kind of salt and carbon dioxide gas, which escape from the water in the form of bubbles scurrying up to the top of the bottle. The colored water sticks to the bubbles, but never mixes with the oil, which is why you can see the colorful bubbles floating to the top, and the remaining water returning to the bottom of the bottle.

Anson’s Answers features 5-year-old whiz kid Anson Wong. He has a college-level grasp on various areas of science, dreams of becoming the president and can speak multiple languages. Did you catch that he’s just 5 years old? Anson has a passion for teaching others and loves to share videos explaining the human body, the laws of physics and his ideas for the future. Grab a seat, because Professor Anson’s class is in session!

Stay in touch with Anson by following him on Facebook! 

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