This experiment comes from the Exploratorium Teacher-in-Residence, Eric Muller created this activity while playing with his food

What is going on? Why does the oil float on the water? Oil floats on water because a drop of oil is lighter than a drop of water the same size. ***Water is denser than oil. *Density is a measurement of how much a given volume of something weighs. *Things that are less dense than water will float in water. *Things that are more dense than water will sink. ***What happens when I pour salt on the oil? *Salt is heavier than water, so when you pour salt on the oil, it sinks to the bottom of the mixture, carrying a blob of oil with it.In the water the salt starts to dissolve. As it dissolves, the salt releases the oil, which floats back up to the top of the water. *This looks like a LAVA LITE". How does a Lava Lite work? Like oil and water the lava in a lava lite doesn't mix withe liquid that surrounds it. When it is cool the lava is a little bit denser than the liquid surrounding it. The cycle repeats over and over as the lava warms up and rises, then cools down and sinks.