Everything on earth is made up of molecules. Even you! Molecules are super small, and we can’t see them, but trillions and trillions of them make up you, me and everything around us! And depending on how these tiny molecules are arranged in a space they form different types of matter.
Density is the amount of stuff or matter in a given amount of space. The higher the density, the more stuff in the space!
Weight or mass and density are about the same when objects are the same size. The more molecules in an object the heavier the object will be. We can tell if one object is denser and has more molecules than another object by its weight or mass.
In your lava lamp you’ll be exploring the densities of three different substances – oil, water, and carbon dioxide C02 to create what’s called a chemical reaction. This reaction takes place when two or more molecules join together or break apart. In its simplest terms a chemical reaction is when you mix two different things called reactants together to make something new called a product.
In this project you’ll mix baking soda and citric acid (reactants) to produce carbon dioxide (C02) and water (H20) (products).
The carbon dioxide gas bubbles that you created in your lava lamp are the product of a simple chemical reaction between baking soda and citric acid.