Provide a brief overview of your experience. How will you remember this? What do you want others to feel or think when they look at your lava lamp?
The first week of the mini project, I wasn't really sure how we were going to start and what exactly the science behind everything was. I just knew our first step was to draw out a lava lamp. Once we did that, we went and asked people for critique. We got comments saying we should figure out a way to make the light bulb more stable in the base, make it a bit shorter, and that we should glue the base to the glass. We took those comments and then we redrew it. Once we got that done, we got all the materials. We used a can from Vons for the base and a glass italian soda bottle. Once we started putting everything together we realized we needed a bottom for the can so that the light bulb can stay upright. If it was loose and moving around in the base it wouldn't heat the lamp properly. We bought another a can with the same diameter as the previous one but with a smaller height. This time we just took the top off, ate what was inside and kept the bottom. We stuck those together, taped the light bulb to the bottom and taped the glass on to the top of the bigger can. Then we added Sharpie to the benzyl alcohol and added that to the regular water that filled the glass. The benzyl alcohol looked really weird when we added the salt water. It looked just like colored water but when it moved around it moved more slowly and sluggishly. This whole process took a bit longer than I thought it would because we had a few issues, like not having a base or not knowing how much salt to add in to the water to make it just right. In the end however, I will remember this as a success even though it didn't really turn out exactly as I thought it would. We did everything we could to make it work. When people first see the lava lamp I want them to see the time we put in and to think its cool even though it doesn't look more like a traditional lava lamp. Since it is cool that the benzyl alcohol acts that way.
Any necessary terms and concepts.
Density, hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules, and coefficient of expansion.
Looking Back:
When we first turned on the lava lamp, we were adding salt as it was heating up so it didn't work very well. Once we let it cool and came back the next day after adding some salt it slowly rose. The first few times the big blob of lava only rose halfway and fell back down. Then we added some more salt and eventually the one big blob went all the way up and fell back down. It didn't move like "lava" like I thought it would, it was just one blob and a bunch of little bubbles that moved around. Even after we added springs so the lava would separate, it continued to move as one. It didn't work because the whole blob was a liquid so it just stuck back together. We did our best to make it work.
Looking Beyond:
The sharpie mixed with the benzyl alcohol because they were both hydrophobic and doesn't mix with the water. Some chemicals in the sharpie were hydrophilic that mixed with the water when we added it in. Since the lava is hydrophobic it stayed separated from the water. We added salt to the water to make the density levels really close to the lava so it was a bit less than the amount to make the lava rise. Once we added enough salt we heated it up which made the molecules in the lava separate a bit more which made it, less dense making it rise (thermal expansion). It cooled as it got to the top which makes it go back down.
One of the questions that came up during the experiment is why it the lava moves in that motion or why it made the little bubbles of lava rather than the big blobs, I didn't look further into why it works that way because it was hard to find specific information.
Looking inward:
We didn't really get the results I thought we would, but it was still a cool experience. I think the results were undesirable because the benzyl alcohol couldn't separate itself very well. We did everything we could to make it work but the way the lava separated was out of our control. It worked the best it could because we were really careful with everything we were doing. We followed what Andrew said and we tried to get everything right. I thought I performed well in this project because I did what I was suppose to and it was fun.
Looking outward:
I worked with Sammie and Annika. I thought our group performed really well. There was only one day when we couldn't get much done because we each already did a worksheet and we couldn't work with the chemicals yet. Besides that day, we worked at a good pace, getting the lava lamp done at a good time. We listened to what we had to do and we all contributed something. We each helped with each step, like building the base, getting materials and putting everything together. I helped put everything in the lamp in, taking pictures and building the base.
Looking Forward:
If I could do this again, I might change what we used for the chemicals. Like Andrew said with mineral oil and coconut oil for the lava and water and isopropyl alcohol for the liquid. I don't have any specific people in mind to work on another lab with. I liked the people from out past labs. I could continue this lab by making the lava work a bit better and learn more on the science of the lamp. I would continue to improve our lava lamp.
Take aways: I learned that there's a specific way to pour something and that things won't always turn out perfectly no matter how well you follow instructions. And that there's always space to improve and experiment. I also learned of the responsibility required with all the freedom we're given to get our work done.