The Lava Lamp is Science and Style in one Beautiful Package

The lava lamp has been the mainstay of the student bedroom for the best part of 40 years. Invented in 1963 by Edward Craven-Walker in Poole, UK, this scientist managed to combine science and style with the Astro Lamp. The fable goes that he got the idea from Mr Dunnet, a pub owner in the New Forest who had a peculiar egg-timer. When the hard-boiled egg was ready, a blob of liquid rose to the top. Craven-Walker, a keen nudist and inventor, was fascinated by this invention and so it became inspiration for the lava lamp we recognize today.

OK, now for the science part. The lava lamp, also known as the liquid motion lamp, work by having two liquids of similar density and insoluble to each other placed in a transparent container. The light bulb is placed at the bottom of the lamp and the heat makes one of the liquids rise through the other as it is heated. As it reaches the top of the lamp, the heated liquid cools and falls back toward the heat source. Some people have described it’s appearance as colored oil traveling through colored water and it would seem that way.

The humble lava lamp died a death in the mid eighties and early nineties as the liquids used were often toxic or corrosive but more to the point they were simply out of fashion. Come the mid-nineties, this little lamp was back and in a big way. Kitsch and retro was back in, way in. Austin Powers reared his ugly yet sexy head and the sixties, that freaked so many people out, was cool. Also, old ideas with new stylings came into fashion. Available different chrome and metallic finishes as well as the classic black plastic. Now available in an assortment of colors and style, the lava lamp is here to stay.