Love them or hate them – lava lamps have been around for quite a while. Around fifty years, in fact. Especially popular in the swinging ’60s and glam rock years of the 1970s, they have made a comeback during the last 10 or 15 years and, if you yearn to buy one, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty in finding one online or in a good department store.
What exactly are they and how do they work? A lava lamp has a tapered glass vessel or tube which contains clear liquid and coloured wax. Hidden in the metal base of the lamp is a halogen bulb. Half an hour or so after the lamp has been switched on, the bulb heats up causing the wax to rise in mesmerising blobs. As the wax reaches the top of the glass vessel, it cools and falls before the whole process begins all over again.
In the UK, lava lamps are produced in Poole, Dorset by Mathmos and they have been exported all over the world.