What is in Lava Lamps?

Question

Is the stuff in lava lamps poisonouss or harmful to your skin or is it just HOT???

Answer 1

Lava lamp

A lava lamp is a novelty item typically used for decoration and ambiance rather than illumination; the slow albeit chaotic rise and fall of the randomly-shaped blobs of wax is fancifully suggestive of the flow of lava, hence the name. The lamps are available with a wide variety of container styles and colours of wax and liquid. They rose to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s and are often associated with the hippie movement of that period.

The lamp consists of an incandescent bulb which heats the contents of a tapered glass bottle containing water and a translucent mix of wax and carbon tetrachloride (although other combinations may be used). A metallic wire coil which is hidden in the base of the lamp both furthers the necessary heat convection and suspends the falling blobs of liquid wax.

The wax is slightly denser than the water at room temperature, and slightly less dense than the water under marginally warmer conditions. This occurs because the wax expands more than the water when both are heated.

Since common wax is much less dense than water and would float at any room temperature, a heavy, nonflammable solvent is added to adjust the wax density to be slightly higher than that of water.

Answer 2

mystic goo!!