Our third Magic Mondays post before Christmas. Remember you can get all the potions plus a muggle reference guide for $5 CA and help support science education. The muggle reference guide includes additional questions and ideas to support critical thinking.
Actual Recipe
- Water
- Vegetable oil
- Food colouring
- Alka-seltzer tablet
Potion Recipe
- Water
- Giant Squid Slime
- Leprechaun Elixir
- Dehydrated Doxy Venom
Directions
Get a tall, clear jar or bottle (the bottle from the Fizzing Whizbees would work once it’s clean).
Fill it about 1/3 full with water.
Fill the rest of it (almost to the top) with giant squid slime. Let the water and slime separate.
Add some leprechaun elixir and let it sink to the water.
Break up the dehydrated doxy venom and drop the pieces into the bottle.
The Science Behind the Magic
This is a physical reaction using the density of different liquids. The water and the food colouring have the same density and they are both heavier than the oil. Density is how closely packed the molecules are; it ends up affecting the weight of a material. So the water and food colouring should mix together and sit below the oil. When you add the Alka-seltzer tablet it dissolves releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide. These bubbles are less dense than both the water and the oil but they pull some of the coloured water with them when they rise creating the lava lamp effect.
Connecting with Science 
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