Before you even drop the tablet in, something remarkable is already happening.

The oil and water have sorted themselves into perfect layers — and they refuse to mix no matter what. That's because water molecules are polar — they carry a tiny electrical charge, like a microscopic magnet — and oil molecules aren't. 

Polar molecules stick to other polar molecules and push everything else away. Oil is also less dense than water, which is why it always wins the top spot. You can watch the same oil-and-water boundary create a completely different spectacle in [Comet Collisions].

Now drop in the tablet. Inside are two dry chemicals — citric acid and sodium bicarbonate — kept separate until water arrives. The moment they meet, they react and produce carbon dioxide gas. That same CO₂ reaction is what makes [The Invisible Fire Extinguisher] work — except there the gas smothers a flame instead of lifting a blob of water.

Those fizzing bubbles attach themselves to coloured water droplets and do something extraordinary — they make them light enough to float upward through the oil. Up goes the blob. But when the bubble reaches the top and bursts, releasing its gas into the air, the water droplet is heavy again. Denser than oil. Down it sinks.

Over and over. Up and down. Until the tablet runs out of chemistry.

Did you notice the oil and water never actually mix — even with all that chaos happening? The blobs stay as blobs the whole time. That's polarity holding firm under pressure.

Real lava lamps do the exact same trick — but without a single chemical reaction. No tablets, no fizzing. So how do they work? 

Find out in The Crazy Scientist Lab!