WEBVTT - The Lava Lamp: Goes Great With Acid 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you should Know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:14.400 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.200 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. Lights 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.720 are turned down here. We got our croovy pad going 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:31.640 super swinging style. Why I couldn't get square? Could I 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.159 couldn't get more squares? That what you're saying? Square? Square? Yeah? Square? 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.600 Well could I answer my question? Uh, you're not square? 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.160 I bet you got a lava lamp in your house. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.199 I don't. Actually I never have, really never have had 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.839 one of you. I've I would love one. I think 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.240 I had one. I think we had one in college 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.480 and one of our houses. I doubt very seriously it 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:59.840 was a uh trademark original lava lamp. Lava lamp. Yeah, 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.319 but um it was probably a knockoff because I don't 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.360 think it worked great. There's a lot of knockoffs from 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.760 those you can get little cheapis now that there's no 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:10.320 good right you want the real one? Yeah? And I 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.720 think if for no other reason than to support the original, 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:17.759 the o G stuff handmade in the UK. Yeah, still, yeah, 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.760 you believe that I do. Actually that's great based on 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.080 on the woman who owns it now. She seems like 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.080 the type who would just be like sticking to it. Yep. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.319 I could make way more money, but I'm not going 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.680 to because it's the way it should be done. That 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.640 is how it started. I'm staying with tradition. That's how 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.559 she does it. So we're talking about lavelmps and actually, Chuck, 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.120 can you just give me a second here before we 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:44.560 get started? Can I give a little plug? Okay? So, um, 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:46.959 as you know, but I want to share with everybody else. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.680 On October eight, I will be doing a live show 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.400 on existential risks. It's called Existential Risks or How I 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:01.639 Learned to Start worrying and Love Humanity. It's pretty great show. Um, 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:07.160 there's slides involved, there's um doom and gloom, maybe a 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.600 little bit of optimism. Who knows, there's some humor mixed in. 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:12.839 It's gonna be a pretty good show. Um. I did 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.000 a similar show at the Bellhouse a couple of years back. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.040 This is a totally brand new show, so even if 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.680 you saw it then this will be new to you. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.960 But it's October eight at the Bellhouse and if you 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.679 happen to want to go, Tickets are available at the 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.680 Bellhouse ny dot Com. Dude, I would be there with 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.560 Bells on. I will list you, but I'll be in California. 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.800 Well I'm gonna list you anyway. Yeah. Like, uh, former 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.800 Falcons coach Jerry Glanville used to leave tickets for Elvis 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.280 at every Falcons game. That's smart, it's stupid because those 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.720 are two tickets. It could have gone to me. Oh 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.520 that's a good point, just dumb. Oh hey did you 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.320 uh are you gonna be on the radio for the Chiefs? 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:55.560 Do you know you turn it down? I kept forgetting 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.400 to respond. I was out of town, so it already 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.320 came and went. Yeah. It was just for those of 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.600 you wondering why we're just talking and chit chatting. Uh, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.120 And I wish I had his name? Can you find it? 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.600 The some of the guys from the voice of the 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:13.400 Kansas City Chiefs radio that they played a preseason game 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.040 against the Falcons this last Friday in Atlanta and invited 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:18.880 us to be on the field and in the booth. 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.239 And I was out of town for my niece's wedding. 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.359 Congratulations Shelby and Dan. Oh hey yeah, congrats and uh 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.919 it was two family weddings, two out of town family 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:35.760 wedding weekends in a row. So congratulations also to Alex 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:40.720 and Catherine, Alex's Emily's cousin. Okay, so we went to Columbus, Ohio, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.880 and then Jacksonville, North Carolina. Lucky went to these weddings, 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:45.600 and uh, I was not able to go to the 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.040 Falcons game. Well that's quite a sacrifice because a guy 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.760 named Dan Israel Dan Dan invited us to hang out 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.280 in the broadcast for the preseason game between the Falcons, 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:58.720 and it should have been so all over that and 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.960 I presumed to help call the game something. Oh yeah, 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.040 I would guess. I'm pretty sure he would have put 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.560 us on. Well I told him at email them back 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.960 said thanks, but if you ever come back, let me 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.320 know do it. I just remembered I got to respond 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.080 to him and say thanks, can I come? I just 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.520 needed fire up the way back machine. So so that's 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.400 a lot of chit chat. Yeah, if you don't like 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.080 our sides and tangents and stuff, I'll bet you hate 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.080 this episode already. But the net net of all that 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.120 is I'm doing a live show. If done a live show, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.799 the net net of all that is that we're about 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:38.000 to talk lava lamps. Dude, that's the net Net corporate goon. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.160 This was I think you've wanted to do this one 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.960 for a bit, right, No, No, okay, I just made 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.800 that up then, no I I Um, I was like 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.920 trying to come up with an episode idea. Sometimes it's 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.320 harder than others. I don't know if you've noticed he's 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.039 getting tougher, but um, the world's getting smaller. I remembered 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.640 we did that one on food fads. I was like, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.120 that was an interesting episode. Let me go see if 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.320 I can find another fat and one of them that 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.440 came up with this pet Rocks article about laval app 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:09.760 maybe we should do pet Rocks one day. So I 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.000 was like, all right, let me see if this is 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.039 any good and it was okay, But then I found 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.520 an article by Zachary Crockett on prisonomics, which is one 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.440 of the better websites of all time. Zachary Crockett is 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:24.360 one of the better like nonfiction magazine writers of all time. 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:29.120 Agreed on the web and um, this article the lava 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.520 imp just Won't Quit really kind of gave a boost 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.200 to the stuff on how stuff works. Yeah, so let's 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.160 go back in time. Let's hop in the old way 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:43.800 Back Machine. Well, and speaking of we actually have way 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.480 Back Machine T shirts now, I know in our t 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.880 public dot com store. Yeah, I got a bunch of 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.599 different merch now. Alright, but we're on our own version 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.560 of the way Back Machine, which is better than what's 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.840 on that T shirt. Okay, And we're going back to 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.440 in the County of Dorset in England, and a little 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:09.200 boy named Edward Craven Walker is born. He would grow 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.640 up and we follow him in the way Back Machine 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.839 as he's growing. He eventually becomes an r AF pilot 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.839 in World War Two. Looks like everything's going normal and smoothly. Yeah. 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.159 He he actually flew recon missions, photographic missions where they 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.160 would you know, go up in planes and take pictures 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.479 of what the enemy is doing. And uh. He eventually 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.320 the war ended, and after the war he said, I'm 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.719 gonna go live in this little trailer in London behind 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:40.359 a pub and build us uh travel agency. Yeah. He 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:45.159 actually created a home swapping program like Airbnb. This is 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.240 in like the fifties. Interesting. Yeah, he's pretty ahead of 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:49.840 his time. He was in a lot of ways. It 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.800 seemed like, so again, everything's going pretty normally, right, Yeah, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.200 he's just he's just travel agent ing and doing quite 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.920 well at it, I think. And uh, he goes to 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.080 the southern coast of France and what this author calls 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:07.600 a life changing trip. Uh, and he comes back a 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:12.840 nudist filmmaker, underwater nudist filmmaker. I think he did drugs 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:14.800 down there. What do you think what that means? I 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.600 just think he took his clothes off for the first 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.800 time ever and was like, I had never really noticed 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:24.240 the breeze before. This is nice. You think it just 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.160 feels like drugs were involved. It's possible, but he seemed 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.960 to not really think too highly of drugs, so I 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.560 think it was more just like act. You're probably right. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.800 He became a nudist, is what it was. Yeah, I 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:36.680 think you're right. So he took his clothes off for 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.560 the first time. He was a never nude before that. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:43.160 And uh. In nineteen sixty he actually, under a pseudonym, 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.119 made a movie called Traveling Light. It was a short 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.760 film with a naked lady performing underwater ballet that, believe 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.040 it or not, did okay in London had a six 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.320 month run. When's the Last Movie You Knew? Had a 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.920 six month run at a major theater in London. Titanic, 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.120 maybe it was Luck. Probably Avatar is the last one, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.080 but probably so so. That was actually Chuck part of 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.920 a trilogy Tatanic, No we Traveling Light? Oh what were 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.120 the other two? Sun Swept? Because I was trying to 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:13.720 get information. I was trying to watch it and I 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.560 couldn't find anything. I'll bet you were Um, I know 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.040 I couldn't find it either, but I found some mention 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:24.000 of it and I saw the movie poster forward or whatever. Um, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.120 but it was. It was I think preceded by a 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.840 movie called eaves On skis New to Skiing Trip. Sun 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.520 Swept sounded like what what this is describing as um 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.000 traveling Light? And then Traveling Light was actually I think 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.840 the second of the three. It's actually a sweet little 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:48.840 trilogy pre porn, time and humanity when like, yeah, like, hey, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.360 here's just a naked person skiing as titilating as we get. 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.640 I've seen it referred to as new to propaganda films, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.480 which is basically like, look, this is like this is 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.000 the life I went to the South of France. Now 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.800 you can too, and it's certainly not pre porn. I 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.880 was kidding about that. We should do an episode on pornography. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.200 I was gonna say, we've done one on nudism New 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.480 Beaches at least. Yeah, we should do one I porn. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.880 That'd be good. We should that. That could be a 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.640 two parter. That's maybe even like three or four, Yeah, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:27.720 maybe five or six. Yeah, alright, I'm a rusty porn 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.680 you should know. So. Um, here's the thing about Edwin 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:39.679 Craven Walkers film um film career. Yes, he he was 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.800 very successful at it. He became something of a legend, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:47.480 and he invested his money in building a nudist camp. Yeah, 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.360 He's like, I got all this dough and here's what 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:50.920 I want to do with it. So I'm sure a 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.840 few of you are like, hose about lava lamps. Chill 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.320 out now we've reached the part where the lava lamps coming, 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.080 that's right, and lava apps come in one day. And 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.600 I think the mid fifties where um Edward Craven Walker 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.960 and I believe it's hyphenated. Actually craven Walker is his 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.080 last name. Oh is that the deal? And he's hanging 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.880 out in a pub called the Queen's Head. The Queen's 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.439 Head that's a new forest in the southwest of London 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.360 and he's sitting at a bar ordering a beer pint 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.320 and um, he notices on the bar along with the 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:31.520 liquor bottles, there's a cocktail shaker. But there's weird bubbles 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.160 floating around in it. Yeah, glass one too, not like 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.400 a steel one. Right, And there's actually you can see 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.760 pictures of it on the matha most site. Oh really 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.840 the original thing? Wow? Yeah. Yeah. So he's sitting there 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:45.959 about to drink, like you said, and it's got water 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.040 and oil and there's a little camp stove underneath it 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.200 heating it and uh it, you know, it looks like 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.520 a little what would become a lava lamp. It's got 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.600 the oils and little blobs and it's floating around. It's 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.679 the thing. It we all recognize now. But when this 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.880 dude sees it back then and no one had ever 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.160 seen anything like this, he was like, wow, what what 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.000 is that? Right? And the bartender was like, that's an 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.840 egg timer. Yeah, kind of a weird answer, but that's weird. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.199 I mean, that's what That's what the lava lamp started 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.120 out as, is an egg timer. There was a guy 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.880 named Great Trivia Question. It is a guy named Alfred Dunnett, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.400 who was a regular at the Queen's Head in New Forest, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.800 Um had built this thing where it was this glass 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.480 cocktail shaker on a camp stove, just a little tiny 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.640 camp stove, Um, and he put oil in the water 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.280 and when the oil rose to the top, by the 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.320 time it took the heat up and rise to the top, 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.640 it meant that your egg was fully hard boiled. It 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.640 was an egg timer. But Edward craven Walker saw this 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.439 and said, no, no, no, this is way more than 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.800 an egg timer. This is the most mesmerizing thing I've 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.280 ever seen. And so he did it right. He found 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.640 out that Alfred Unnat had passed away, but apparently he 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.120 had a patent on the same timer. So Edward craven 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:11.040 Walker went to to Um, the widow of Alfred Dunnet, 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.439 and said, hey, how about you saw me this patent 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.520 the history of bad deals. But here's the thing. You 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.080 go ahead and I'm going to retort. Well, I mean 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.040 I might even retort for you, because when you look 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.920 at the history of business and bad deals. He got 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.040 this patent for less than twenty pounds. But at the 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:36.120 same time, Dunnett's widow was probably like what in the world. 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.040 Why would anyone ever care about this? Right, it's just 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.600 sitting there. And not only that, this guy doesn't want 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:44.840 to make an egg timer. He wants to make something 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.800 bigger out of this thing. So he actually rescued a 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:53.320 patent from obscurity and improved on it. And by the way, 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:57.880 West Egg doesn't convert for pounds and strictly USD. But 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.880 there's a site called I am kate which does um 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:06.360 inflation calculation for pounds. Oh interesting, So twenty pounds according 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.480 to I am kate says, it would be about seven 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.320 three pounds today, which is about a thousand dollars roughly. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.320 So that's not bad. Yeah, here's a thousand bucks that 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:22.040 you were totally not expecting for something you were never 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.640 going to do anything with. I'm going to take it 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.640 and presented to the world. Yeah. So he gets a 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.800 bottle um. It's called Treetop Orange Squash. It was a 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.240 drink that he used to drink as a kid and 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.360 stud I think, so, I don't think it has this 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.760 original shape, but the shape of that bottle more or 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.640 less is sort of what the shape of the glass 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.400 of the any lava lamp that you see today. Looks 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.120 like yeah, you look at it and you're like, oh, yeah, 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:50.760 of course that would be the prototype. And so he 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:54.360 gets a thing. He gets a couple of liquids. It 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.959 is not oil and water like I probably thought before 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.920 I researched this. It is water and why acts and 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.240 they are what's known and we'll get into the science 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.839 in a minute. But mutually insoluble, meaning uh that they 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.320 don't dissolve into one another like oil and water. And 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.640 he adds a few other little chemicals here and there, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.280 and it got a little light bulb, screwed it into 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.160 a base and kind of hooked it all up and 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:24.280 bought a being bought a boom. The astro lamp, the 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.760 astro lamp, as he called it, was born. Yeah, there 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.080 was an astro light astro lamp. Okay, the astro lamp. 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.640 That's another trivia question for you. The original name of 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.640 the lava lamp was the astro lamp. Should we take 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.960 a break, I think so. All right, we'll be back 0:14:39.040 --> 0:15:09.800 right after this and talk about science. All right, Chuck, science, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.120 We're gonna talk science because there's actually some physics behind 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.840 the lava lamp, and we're going to explain it because 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.360 it's actually understandable. Yeah, who was the guy who wrote 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.240 this again, Zachary Crockett. But this is a how stuff 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.240 works article that explains the physics. Oh the inside the 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.880 lamp part, because I thought that was kind of cute. Actually, 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.360 the bullet points for that are. The things that you 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.080 need are a compound that makes up floating blobs blobs 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.360 and quotes, a compound that the blob floats in. There 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.320 wasn't in quotes that time, and then a lamp that 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.320 illuminates the display and provides the necessary heat to move 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.440 the blobs again no quotes. Yeah, that's it though, But 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.400 that's what, Yeah, what you need. But we're gonna talk 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.160 about more science as far as mutually insoluble liquids go. Right, 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.600 because it sounds really easy, right, You got your blobs, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.680 you got your liquid, the blobs floating, you got your 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.120 light to heat the whole thing up. Easy peasy. It's 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:05.280 actually really hard because what you're walking is a very 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.240 fine line between something that will work as a lava 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.480 lamp and something that will just not work at all 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.920 and look like a lava lamp gone bad, right, exactly. Um, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.560 So you've got you've got admissible compounds compounds that don't 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:28.160 um dissolve into one another, but you need to have them. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.960 They need to have pretty similar densities, not exactly the 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.960 same because then it won't work, but not too different 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.320 either because then that won't work either. And you'll understand 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.720 why in a second. They need to be fairly close. 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.720 And so the reason why UM Edward Edward Craven Walker 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.960 used wax and water is because water plane old fresh 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.200 water has a density of one point Oh, it's basically 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.520 the set point for densities. Paraffin Wax has a density 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.840 of point eight, which means that it's slightly less dense 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:04.359 than water, but right very close. So if you heat 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:09.280 up UH something, it tends to expand right correct. When 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.720 it expands, it becomes less dense, which means that something 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.760 that was more dense before will be less dense, meaning 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.639 that if it's in some other liquid that's denser, this 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.240 less dense thing will float to the top. Yeah. If 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.560 it's less dense, it rises. If it's more dense, it 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:29.560 will fall. Uh. And that's why you know, if you 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.600 want to change this density and then make these molecules 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.480 UH spread out. One of the things you can do, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:38.480 especially in the case of a lava lamp, is to 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.359 heat it up. That's the point of that bulb at 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.040 the bottom of the lava lamp. Yeah, because if you 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.600 see lava lamp, it's not turned on. You just see 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:50.480 the blob at the bottom and the fluid. It's not water, 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:54.240 of course, uh, sitting at the top, and they're separated, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.880 but they're just sitting on top of one another. Right, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.760 And it actually is water. Oh is it really? I 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.320 thought it was something else too, the some other some 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.199 other stuff, but the liquid that the blobs are in 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.520 is mostly water. Yeah. So here's the thing. When you 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.080 turn on the lava lamp. You turn that that heat 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.159 that you start the heat of the light bulb, and 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:18.840 that wax begins to warm up and it liquefies. And 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.280 as it liquefies, it becomes less dense, and things get 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.560 really exciting at that point, right, And then it starts 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.440 to flow to the top. Right, You're like, all right, 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:31.000 things are happening. It actually forms what are called stalagtites. Yeah, 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:35.480 and everyone's like you feeling it yet, right, right? And 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.480 as it starts to form stealactites, they eventually the tops 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.199 of them break off and it floats up to the 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:45.639 top and you're like, I'm definitely feeling it. And then um, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.040 as it gets to the top of the lamp, it's 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.880 far enough away from the heat source that it starts 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.600 to cool down, and so it sinks again to the bottom, 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.159 and as it does, it passes another globe that's on 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.720 the way to the top, and when it reaches the bottom, 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:02.359 the whole process starts over again, and that wax glob 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.680 gets reheated, and it goes back up and it passes 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.080 on the way up the glob that it just passed 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:12.800 coming back down, and that's a lava lamp. And it's 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.359 again it sounds simple, but to get the wax density 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.720 and the water density just right, you have to add 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.000 some other ingredients. And so, going back to the original 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.400 prototype that was created by Edward Craven Walker, it's really 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:32.040 impressive that this guy with zero chemistry training whatsoever, managed 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.040 to do this, ever, let alone, and just less than 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.240 a decade. Yeah, I mean, I imagine there was a 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.920 lot of trial and error trying to get that thing 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.360 just right. Because again, like I said, if I mean 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.480 you think it sounds easy to build one on your 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.800 own and prepared to be disappointed, and you can you 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.520 can make one with oil water food coloring and then 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.280 alca seltzer. It's called it's called a Yankee lava lamp. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.800 It's terrible. But this is nothing like this, Yeah, because 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.359 what the whole point of a lava lamp is to 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:07.160 create this mood and to have these amorphous blobs separating 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.280 and floating around and rising and falling, and that's the 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.680 whole effect. You know. It wasn't meant to be a 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.320 lamp to give much light. It's to create mood and atmosphere. 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:21.439 And as we will see, we keep making little druggy jokes. Uh. 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.919 That was a big part of why they sold. But 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:25.719 we'll get to that in a minute. But you were 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.960 talking about the fact that it was impressive. Uh. It 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.159 says only five or six people actually know that this 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.080 exact formulas still that who worked for the real lava 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:43.119 lamp company, And there are plenty of knockoffs, but that original, uh, 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:47.199 that original lava lamp recipe is is not known by 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.480 many people, very closely guarded. Yeah. Even in Craven Walker's 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.120 original patent, it has the ingredients, but it doesn't say 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.280 in what quantities or anything like that. It's still a 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.919 trade secret to this day. Yeah. And you also he 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.000 figured you had to uh, there was a lot of 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:02.560 trial and error because he had to add the water 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:07.560 um very slowly apparently, or else it becomes what's known 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.000 as an emulsion, meaning it's just sort of mixed together. Yeah, 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.160 Like you can conceivably mix oil and water together, especially 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.280 if you have an emulsive fire, but you can also 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:19.880 do it by stirring it really really fast, and it'll 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:21.639 it'll mix together, and that's not what you want. You 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:24.159 want them to be separate from the first moment they 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:27.560 come in contact together in the lamp globe. Right, So 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.919 nine h three years I think it took him to 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.639 finally get the design right. He called it the astro lamp. 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:39.359 He built a little factory in his backyard and his 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.240 wife at the time, I think he's married four times, 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.680 but she was like, you know, he was the type 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.800 of guy that would finish this thing once he started it, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:51.320 and he did, and originally he decided that it was 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:54.840 it fit really well in with this post World War 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:59.800 two British demand for very flamboyant, colorful home furnishings. Yeah, 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.440 He's like, this is nothing if not flamboyant and colorful. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.280 The original Lava lamp was yellow liquid water and red 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:13.720 wax globs on a gold base. Great looking, groovy as 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:17.800 groovy gets right, Um, But he originally envisioned it is like, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:22.080 this is something for a cool bachelor pad. If you 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.200 were a wealthy bachelor and you're looking to put something 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.840 that's very interesting and high end as a home furnishing, 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.119 try the Astro lamp. It was originally envisioned as a 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.159 high end home furnishing. Yeah. There there's this one great 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.280 ad that had a the scene of a bachelor pad 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:43.679 on a magazine page and the caption said, the perfect 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.280 gift for one's relatives, one's friends, and dash it all 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:52.480 oneself by three yeah, exactly, by three of them. So 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.679 this actually didn't work out very well for Craven Walker 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.679 because he and his wife were driving around in their 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.480 vein in going to places like Herod's and getting a 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:07.399