i have some questions about making my own lava lamp?

Question

i heard that you can make the goo by mixing oil and alchohol together, but how do you color it, and how do you color the water it flots around in

(basicly what is the concept of coloring the goo inside of the lamp, and what can i use to rest it on a lamp or something)

and can the iol be vegetiable oil, and the alchohol be hydrogen proxide

if not where can i find these materials

Answer 1

A "real" lava lamp is not alcohol and oil. The liquid is mostly water, and the blobs are a special kind of wax. The homemade lava lamps are made of mineral oil and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). Mineral oil and rubbing alcohol should be buyable at the drugstore. You can't use vegetable oil, and hydrogen peroxide will not work.

I've attached a link with instructions on how to make and color your lamp. Click on the "poor man's lava lamp" part. It's not that easy, be warned.

Answer 2

M Kay

For starters the clear liquid should not be colored so you can see the “lava” better Right? The trick is that you want a liquid that has a very high boiling point (far away from the melting point of your lava). You don’t want to build up too much pressure and you don’t want to have your liquid phase vaporize away. I would not close this thing up (like the commercial ones) because this becomes a glass pressure vessel – bad thing.

For the lava how about a colored candle? Like one of the those votive candles. Parafin has a melting point around 60 C.

That would mean for the liquid you’d want a polar solvent with a high boiling point. I am thinking Glycerol (glycerine) might fit the bill (BP295 and should have enough polarity) You can get bottles glycerine at some pharmacy stores. You have to test it.