A lava lamp is a rare lamp as its main purpose is not to illuminate the surroundings but to serve as a beautiful decoration piece that adds to the overall decor of your room. It has become very popular with interior decorators and people with style. These lamps are available in a variety of colors and styles. The lava lamp is available in variety of colors but red lava lamp gives a more natural look. Its unique style and mechanism makes it a very interesting addition to your room.
The lamp consists of a standard bulb when turned on heats the tall transparent bottle containing small amount water and a mixture of wax. Although other things can also be added such as carbon tetrachloride but the standard lava lamp must have water and wax in the transparent bottle. The wax is not that thick but a little dense as compared with water at room temperature but gets even less dense under warm temperatures as it is more expandable and elastic than water when heated together.
So when this mixture is heated by the energy produced by bulb underneath, the wax becomes fluid and ascends to the top of the transparent bottle where it cools off due to the fact that heating effect produced by the bulb almost diminishes as the fluid reaches the top. The gravity pulls the wax fluid again towards the bottom of the bottle. There is a metallic wire coil at the base of the bottle which acts as a surface tension breaker to recombine the cooled wax after it descend.
This slow rise and fall of the wax continues as long as the lamp is turned on and gives an exquisite look. The rise and fall of wax depicts lava hence the name lava lamp is given to this device. Astro lamp is also a name given to this device. The transparent bottle is wrapped with a colored tape or paper to give it different colors. Red lava lamp is the most popular around as the red taping of the bottle gives it red color and almost gives the inside solution the look of lava as lava is also red.
A standard bulb of 25 to 44 watts is usually used in the lamp. One must be patient for the whole process to start as it is quite slow. Normally it takes around 20 to 30 minutes for the solution to heat up and start melting the wax to make it rise to the top. The above mentioned heating time is for water and wax solution and it may vary if other chemical solutions are used in the formation.
Lava lamps do not have a history that goes way back. They were first invented by Englishman Edward Craven Walker in 1960, displayed it to the world at a trade show in 1965. Over the time they have gradually gained popularity. They are now available in a number of styles, shapes and colors. They were quite expensive initially but now you can buy a very good lava lamp for to .
Care is the word of caution that should be kept in mind when handling lava lamps. When the lamp is in operation it should not be shaken, as even a slight shake can combine the wax with the water and the blobs will become unclear. Any forceful shake can leave strains of wax at the walls of the transparent glass bottle that are very hard to clean. Strains on the glass bottle will spoil your display which is the main function of the lamp.
Dangerous is a word that can also be associated with this glass made lamp. The family of Philip Quinn will be in a better position to explain this characteristic of lava lamps as in 2004, Philip Quinn, a 24 year died because of his negligence. Yes he died! He wanted to speed up the heating process by placing the lamp on his kitchen stove and observed the process standing nearby. The glass bottle could not withstand the extreme heat produced by the stove and exploded with few pieces of the glass piercing through Philip's chest and ultimately through his heart, killing him. The instruction book clearly states that the lamp should not be heated by any other source other than the bulb at the base. A Red lava lamp is good as long as you take proper care of them.
