This week on Let's Talk About It Tuesdays, CODE313 is bringing knowledge and insight to our blog readers on the various topics of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math! This week's blog is centered around why and how a lava lamp works the way it does. So without further ado, let's talk about it.

We can best describe a lava lamp as a object that teaches us about density.  Density is determined by whether something floats or sinks when it is in water. When something has less density than water, it will begin to float. When something has more density than water, it will begin to sink. Density is also affected by the temperature. This is the exact event happening inside of a lava lamp! The “something” inside of a lava lamp is a waxy compound and the temperature is manipulated from the light inside of the lamp. 

Due to the wax being just as dense as the water, when you turn on the lava lamp, the heat (from the light at the bottom) makes the waxy compound slightly less dense than the water and the wax rises. When the wax rises to the top of the lamp (where it is cooler than the bottom) the wax has slightly more density than the water and it begins to sink. This cycle repeats to create the visually appealing lava lamp effect. 

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