What exactly is the goop inside a lava lamp?

Yep! Gonna get questionably gloopy!
Seriously, Don't try this at home. Only use chemicals in ways they're meant to be used. Be good :)

Strings of text which take you places!
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[TechnologyConnections]

Well, no effort was put towards my hair at least.
Edit to add: I definitely should have worn safety glasses! My bad.

[gregorytaylor]

"So be patient... Greg" -- I have to admit.. that tripped me out for a minute.

[jackdeath]

When assembling lava lamps commercially, the heating coil goes in first and sits on the bottom followed by the hot paraffin wax, and then the cold liquid solution, which is 2000 ppm mineral water with a 4% solution of ethylene glycol. A few drops of water color (or food coloring) may be added for the desired effect. The wax is colored with color chips. However, any craft store sells dye for coloring wax. Stay away from color pigments as they're only meant to color the wax surface and are useless for lava lamps.

[Ryyi]

2:33 My dad's name is Greg and he was just saying that he is one of the types of people too impatient for a lava lamp. He freaked out when you said Greg.

[riggsawpuzzle]

I’ll never forget my seventh grade science teacher being amazed that I used lava lamps as an example for convection currents and she then brought in seven lava lamps the next day (including two of mine) to teach all of her classes about the currents. The one time I ever felt smart lol

[smitentertainment]

Chemical engineer here: I suspect that there are chlorinated wax types for sale. These should have a higher density.

[UselessDuckCompany]

24 minutes on lava lamps. I'm in.

[ynotw]

“No effort November.”

3 set changes and multiple lamp configurations later...

[Calliber]

Clear wax in lava lamps makes the craziest patterns on the wall and ceiling. The way the light passes through it and shines on the wall is amazing. It's like a psychedelic underwater experience.

[handlebarfox]

Hair: 1950's
Jacket: 1970's
Shirt: 1980's
Lava Lamp: timeless!

[kennylauderdale_en]

The lava is outside the earth, just stuck in a lamp. That's why it's not magma.

[christopherdeangelis]

Poor Alec, everytime a bottle became cloudy he had to drink a whole new bottle. What a sacrifice for the craft.

[MK-drdx]

This may just be the Midwesterner in me, but I unironically really like the wine bottle and bucket lava lamp. It has a peculiar rustic charm one wouldn't normally expect from a lava lamp.

[CSGhostAnimation]

I always give my lava lamps a little taste test.

[GeoStreber]

"Only use chemicals in ways they're meant to be used."

I'm a chemist, and I disapprove of this message.

[Nosiu]

November: No effort
Alec: **gets a chemistry degree**

[Dunch]

Man this video is so good for entertainment purposes only, I definitely don't have a huge 8 gallon homemade lava lamp that uses this exact recipe.

[PeterGysegem]

In the late 1970s I too was curious about lava lamps and, being a manager of an analytical lab, had ways to find out. What I discovered, if I remember correctly, was that the wax appeared to be a commercially available chlorinated paraffin wax possibly combined with paraffin to get the desired specific gravity. Since paraffin itself isn't a single pure substance but a mix of various long hydrocarbons, and not having samples of different chlorinated paraffins to compare it to, the exact composition was elusive but I was satisfied with what I had learned.

[bidzoutheking]

"Lava lamps are useless."
Cloudflare's SSL lab: hold my beer

[joebuckman]

As an automotive technician, we spray that stuff on the "whatnot" way more than we spray it on brake parts