WEBVTT - How Lava Lamps Work

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<v Speaker 1>Y dot com. Mosey It's always there. Welcome to brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com Where smart Happens,

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<v Speaker 1>Hi Marshall Brain. Liquid motion lamps, which most people know

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<v Speaker 1>is lava lamps, have been around for decades, but have

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<v Speaker 1>you ever wondered how they work. It's actually the same

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing that powers a hot air balloon. The

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<v Speaker 1>theory behind liquid motion lamps goes something like this. Inside

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<v Speaker 1>the lamp, you have two liquids, and these two liquids

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<v Speaker 1>are first of all, very close in density and second

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<v Speaker 1>insoluble in one another. Oil and water are insoluble in

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<v Speaker 1>one another, but oil and water have very different densities.

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<v Speaker 1>A volume of water weighs a lot more than the

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<v Speaker 1>same volume of oil. They won't work in a lava lamp,

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<v Speaker 1>so you search to find two liquids that are very

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<v Speaker 1>close in density and are insoluble like oil and water.

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<v Speaker 1>Now you apply heat to the bottom of the mixture

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<v Speaker 1>in a liquid motion lamp. That heat usually comes from

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<v Speaker 1>a lightbulb. The heavier liquid absorbs the heat, and as

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<v Speaker 1>it heats up, it expands. As it expands, it becomes

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<v Speaker 1>less dense. Because the liquids have very similar densities, The

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<v Speaker 1>heavier liquid is suddenly lighter than the other liquid, so

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<v Speaker 1>it rises. As it rises, it cools down, and that

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<v Speaker 1>makes it denser and therefore heavier, So now it starts

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<v Speaker 1>to sink. This all happens in slow motion because heat

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<v Speaker 1>absorption is a fairly slow process, and the density changes

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about here are very slight. That slowness is

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<v Speaker 1>what makes a lava lamp so cool. Do you have

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<v Speaker 1>any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please

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<v Speaker 1>send me an email at podcast at how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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