Lava lamps

How do Lava Lamps Work?

Have you ever wondered how a lava lamp works and what makes the wax move around? Slowly going up and down. What is it made of? Well you’re about to find out.

What’s it made of?

Lava lamps are made out of a lot of materials like wax and metal. A lava lamp has a light bulb in the lava lamps stand or underneath it, that’s why there’s a switch to turn it on. The material inside is oil and wax. The oil is the clear liquid inside it and the wax is the colored material inside.

What makes it move?

The wax in lava lamps move because the wax heats up causing it to float to the top. When the wax is cooler and more dense it sinks back to the bottom of the lava lamp to move back and back down so on so on.

What will happen next? Will people invent a portable lava lamp? It’s not very complex because they are glow sticks so, now you know, anyone could make one using wax, metal and oil.

Written by Zach