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Lava lamp
A lava lamp is a decorative lamp that was invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company, Mathmos.
Lava lamps consist of a bolus of wax and a clear or translucent liquid inside a glass vessel. The vessel is placed on a lamp base with an incandescent light bulb. The heat causes temporary reductions in the wax's density and the liquid's surface tension. As the warmed wax rises through the liquid, it cools, loses its buoyancy, and falls back to the bottom of the vessel in a cycle that is visually suggestive of pāhoehoe lava. The lamps are designed in a variety of styles and colours.
Lava lamps are commonly associated with hippie and cannabis cultures.
A classic lava lamp contains a standard incandescent or halogen lamp which heats a tall (often tapered) glass bottle. A formula from a 1968 US patent consisted of water and a transparent, translucent, or opaque mix of mineral oil, paraffin wax, and carbon tetrachloride. The clear water or mineral oil can optionally be coloured with translucent dyes.
Common wax has a density much lower than water and floats at any temperature. Carbon tetrachloride is denser than water (also nonflammable and miscible with wax) and can be added to increase the wax density at room temperature. When heated, the wax expands, becomes less dense, and rises; as it cools, its density increases and it sinks. The wax also becomes fluid, causing blobs to ascend to the top of the lamp. A metallic wire coil in the bottle's base breaks the cooled blobs' surface tension, allowing them to merge and repeat the cycle.
Since 1970, lava lamps made for the US market have not used carbon tetrachloride, the use of which was banned in the country that year due to toxicity. Haggerty, their current manufacturer, has stated that their current formulation is a trade secret.
The underlying fluid mechanics phenomenon in lava lamps is a form of Rayleigh–Taylor instability.
Agitating the lamp once the wax has melted causes the two fluids to emulsify, resulting in a cloudy appearance. Some emulsification occurs during the lamp cycle; however, the wax reforms into a single mass upon cooling. Severe cases can require many heating-cooling cycles to clear.
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Lava lamp
A lava lamp is a decorative lamp that was invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company, Mathmos.
Lava lamps consist of a bolus of wax and a clear or translucent liquid inside a glass vessel. The vessel is placed on a lamp base with an incandescent light bulb. The heat causes temporary reductions in the wax's density and the liquid's surface tension. As the warmed wax rises through the liquid, it cools, loses its buoyancy, and falls back to the bottom of the vessel in a cycle that is visually suggestive of pāhoehoe lava. The lamps are designed in a variety of styles and colours.
Lava lamps are commonly associated with hippie and cannabis cultures.
A classic lava lamp contains a standard incandescent or halogen lamp which heats a tall (often tapered) glass bottle. A formula from a 1968 US patent consisted of water and a transparent, translucent, or opaque mix of mineral oil, paraffin wax, and carbon tetrachloride. The clear water or mineral oil can optionally be coloured with translucent dyes.
Common wax has a density much lower than water and floats at any temperature. Carbon tetrachloride is denser than water (also nonflammable and miscible with wax) and can be added to increase the wax density at room temperature. When heated, the wax expands, becomes less dense, and rises; as it cools, its density increases and it sinks. The wax also becomes fluid, causing blobs to ascend to the top of the lamp. A metallic wire coil in the bottle's base breaks the cooled blobs' surface tension, allowing them to merge and repeat the cycle.
Since 1970, lava lamps made for the US market have not used carbon tetrachloride, the use of which was banned in the country that year due to toxicity. Haggerty, their current manufacturer, has stated that their current formulation is a trade secret.
The underlying fluid mechanics phenomenon in lava lamps is a form of Rayleigh–Taylor instability.
Agitating the lamp once the wax has melted causes the two fluids to emulsify, resulting in a cloudy appearance. Some emulsification occurs during the lamp cycle; however, the wax reforms into a single mass upon cooling. Severe cases can require many heating-cooling cycles to clear.