When we are fortunate enough to discover someone willing to visit our excruciatingly drab apartment, a topic which invariably comes up is the nature and origin of our vintage red lava lamp. Just what is a lava lamp and how does it work? Is it the result of some ghastly industrial accident or did someone create it on purpose? –Jim Geckle, Brian Repp, Tim Ray, Lindor Henrickson, Greenbelt, Maryland
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As you know, boys, we at the Straight Dope strive at all times to be cool. However, nothing we have ever done even approaches the coolness of our latest feat, namely visiting the lava lamp factory. It is located in a funky old neighborhood in Chicago, has a front office staffed largely by little old ladies, and goes under the fittingly grandiloquent name of Lava-Simplex Internationale. The company also makes the Wave, a clear plastic box filled with colored fluid that rocks back and forth to make . . . well, you can probably guess.
The principles of Lava Lite operation are simple. The “lava” is basically a specially compounded wax. When heated from below by a 40-watt bulb, it expands until it becomes less dense than the liquid above, causing it to rise. When it gets to the top of the globe, the wax cools and starts to sink again, and the cycle repeats. Convection currents in the liquid presumably add to the effect.
