Lava Lamp History

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The lava lamp first appeared in 1963 when it was invented by a British accountant by the name of Edward Craven Walker, who had never been very successful with the exception from the invention of underwater nudist films (smithsonianmag.com). When Walker first attempted to sell his lamp many local merchants found it ugly and not worthwhile. However, it soon became a symbol for the physadelic movement and sales took off. Walker’s lamp was first called the Astro Lamp; however when the idea was brought over to the United States in the mid 1960’s the name Lava Lite Lamp was coined. Before Walker sold his company, the Crestworth Company of Dorest, over seven million lamps had already been sold and around 400,000 are still sold every year. The original lamp has 52 ounces of liquid, which was usually colored yellow or blue (Bellis). The wax or “lava” inside of the original lamp was either red or white. However, now lava lamps can be found in any size from 12 ounces up to 252 ounces and it can also be found in a large variety of colors.
The basic properties of the modern lava lamp include a translucent liquid, colored wax, a glass vessel, and an incandescent light bulb. The rising and falling of the wax comes from the change in density, of the wax, due to the changes from the heat provided by the lamp. The translucent liquid is either water or an opaque mix of mineral oil, paraffin wax, and carbon tetrachloride. The water is obviously composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Mineral oil is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Paraffin wax is a hydrogen carbon (Cn H2N+2). Carbon Tetrachloride is made of chlorine atoms and chloroform, which is very similar to chlorine but it has an extra hydrogen atom.
The gl...

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...praying shards of glass a lethal velocity. Mythbusters also proved this to be true (Wikipedia.org)
All of the materials that make up the lava lamp are very basic materials that are not hard to find. Elements are responsible for the makeup of these materials and the three sources from where these elements came are the Big Bang, fusion in stars, or supernovas. Lava lamps were never intended to provide actual light, rather they were intended to be a fun decoration that were different from anything people had seen. When the psychedelic movement came about along with drugs Walker, the inventor, claimed that “If you buy my lamp, you will not need to buy drugs” (Bellis). The lava lamps sales have declined in recent years but about 400,000 lamps are still sold every year. Some even believe that the lava lamp may make a comeback in recent years due to changing times.

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