There is nothing more nostalgic than a good old lava lamp. If you didn’t have one (which, if we are honest, is highly unlikely), then you knew someone who did. They were a favorite in teenager bedrooms, band practice rooms, bars, and dorm rooms, to name a few.
And while most of us have spent at least a few minutes staring at a lava lamp as the insides goop around, we have had the thought of “what is in a lava lamp?” It obviously isn’t really lava, so what exactly is in it? Here we take a look at what you need to know about the famous lava lamp and what it contains. Let’s get right to it!
Where Did the Lava Lamp Come From?
Alright, this one is a bit of a history lesson.
Remember seeing a lava lamp for the first time as a kid and thinking, “There is absolutely magic happening in there,” as the only explanation you had for the phenomenon happening before your eyes? As it turns out, there is actually a scientific process behind the operation of a lava lamp, but we didn’t get to where we are overnight. To fully understand the processes of a lava lamp, let’s go back to the beginning and learn a bit about the classic lava lamp.
In 1963, in a pub in Chicago, Illinois, Edward Craven Walker encountered a homemade egg timer made from a cocktail shaker filled with liquid. He then hired David George Smith, a British inventor, to design a “display device” and the chemical formula he would need for it. The patent was issued in 1968 and Walker released the lamp under his UK-based company, Crestworth, with its original name—the Astro. Variations like the Astro Mini and the lantern-style Astro Coach were also sold in the UK.
Moving out of the UK, two men, Adolph Wertheimer and Hy Spector, saw Walker’s product at a trade show in Germany. The two bought the American rights so they could begin manufacturing and selling the lamps in Chicago, Illinois, under the name Lava Lite Lamp. However, in the late 1970s, the two sold the US rights to Larry Haggerty.
Haggerty created a subsidiary company called Lava World International, which manufactured lava lamps in North America for more than 30 years. Manufacturing was moved to China and the brand was acquired in 2018 by Schylling Incorporated, which continues to make American lava lamps. Walker’s company continues to hold the rights to the Astro Lamp in the UK and manufacture them and similar products. The company holds several awards for innovation and new designs.
The First Lava Lamp
When the first basic lava lamp was invented in 1963 by Walker and his company, it looked much the same as the kind we see today. However, there were small differences between the internal mechanisms and chemicals. Walker’s original lava lamp was a glass bottle over a halogen lamp with water and wax inside. With the lamp in operation, the wax on the bottom would melt over the hot lamp, become buoyant, and rise through the water.
As it distanced from the heat of the light bulb and cooled, it would become dense again and lose that buoyancy, causing it to fall back down in the cycle we’re familiar with. Wires at the bottom of the bottle would help break up the wax to cause dynamic wax shapes. However, pure paraffin wax is actually lighter than water, so to get it dense enough to sink, Walker mixed in a little carbon tetrachloride.
Carbon tetrachloride may sound like a decently harmless chemical, and it has been used in fire extinguishers, refrigerants, and as a cleaning agent in the past. However, studies have shown that exposure to it over a long period of time can affect the central nervous system, and in certain amounts can even be fatal. As such, the United States banned the usage of the chemical in 1970. So that’s left us wondering—what is it that they do these days to make the wax dense enough to create the desired effect?
So What Is in a Lava Lamp?
Turns out, it’s something of a secret. The main manufacturer of lava lamps, currently Schylling Inc, is holding their current recipe close to their chest. However, in 2015, a new design was released by Kyle Haines that used ferrofluid – a type of magnetic fluid – in place of the wax and carbon tetrachloride to create the up and down blobbing effect.
Kyle Haines had been working with ferrofluid for many years before coming up with the ferrofluid lava lamp idea. When ferrofluid is used, the lamp usually utilizes magnets to enhance the effect. Ferrofluid lava lamps are a lot of fun because by using external magnets, you can manipulate the ferrofluid yourself. There are many DIY ferrofluid lava lamp tutorials online, though one should always be cautious when using ferrofluid, as it can be a major skin irritant.
Modern-day lava lamps will also sometimes use mineral oil instead of water, which is less dense and makes it easier for the wax to sink. The translucent fluid of a lava lamp can be left clear or colored with dyes. Other components of a modern lava lamp are a halogen or incandescent light bulb, and a coil at the bottom to break up the wax. Add a glass bottle full of oil or water, your mixture of wax, and a touch of creativity, and you’ve got yourself a classic décor staple dating back almost sixty years.
Final Thoughts
Lava lamps have evolved in the eyes of the public, as well. Where we might have seen them most frequently in the bedroom of a teenager a few decades ago, these days they can serve as desk lamps or you could use one as a statement piece as a decorative lamp. Lava lamps have also been popular as nightlights for children, given their soft glow and calming movements.
So, it seems that with the trade secrets and the mind-blowing magnetic fluid, it’s not entirely wrong to go on thinking that lava lamps do contain just a little bit of magic.
