The wax the lava is said to be a blend of paraffin and perchloroethylene perc aka dry cleaning fluid or brake part cleaner. Most likely you may have seen a lava lamp before even if it was just on television or in a magazine.

What Is Inside A Lava Lamp Lighting Mode

A lava lamp is a decorative lamp invented in 1963 by british entrepreneur edward craven walker the founder of the lighting company mathmos the lava lamp consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel the remainder of which contains clear or translucent liquid.

Whats in a lava lamp. Lava lamps are designed to serve as decorative luminaires in the shape of a tube. Due to their fascinating mechanism many wonder how they are made and how they work especially since what is inside these lamps seems to be a great mystery. Inside this glass container is a combination of colored water or alcohol and a gooey substance consisting mostly of paraffin wax carbon tetrachloride and mineral oil.

The liquid part is a mixture of distilled water pure salt antifreeze ethylene glycol and a coloring agent. When your lamp is turned off the wax is slightly more. Bryan katzel vp of product development at schylling which makes lava brand lava lamps said the lava is mostly paraffin wax while the liquid contains water coloring and antifungals.

As we mentioned there are two components in the lava lamp. Wax has a lower density than water so it should sit on top but with a lava lamp the liquid on the inside is water fixed with different chemicals that cause it to be similar to the wax in density. A wax compound and a liquid compound.

When the lamp is switched off the wax is slightly denser so it finds its way to the bottom of the lamp. What katzel left out are chemicals that alter the density of the liquid and density is everything when it comes to lava lamps. A traditional lava lamp consists of a conical metal base housing a 40 watt lightbulb and a teardrop shaped glass container which fits snugly over the base and bulb.

In lava lamps however the water based liquid is mixed with a secret combination of chemicals that give it a similar density to the wax.