The lava lamp first appeared in 1963 when it was invented by a British accountant named Edward Craven Walker, who never knew much of success with the exception of the invention of underwater nudist films (smithsonianmag.com). When Walker first tried to sell his lamp, many local merchants found it ugly and useless. However, it quickly became a symbol of the physadelic movement and sales took off. Walker's lamp was first called Astro Lamp; However, when the idea was introduced to the United States in the mid-1960s, the name Lava Lite lamp was coined. Before Walker sold his company, the Crestworth Company of Dorest, more than seven million lamps had already been sold and approximately 400,000 are still sold each year. The original lamp contains 52 ounces of liquid, usually yellow or blue in color (Bellis). The wax or “lava” inside the original lamp was red or white. However, lava lamps can now be found in any size, from 12 ounces to 252 ounces, as well as in a wide variety of colors. The basic properties of the modern lava lamp include translucent liquid, colored wax, glass container. , and an incandescent bulb. The rise and fall of the wax comes from the change in density of the wax, due to changes in the heat provided by the lamp. The translucent liquid is either water or an opaque mixture of mineral oil, paraffin wax, and carbon tetrachloride. Water is obviously composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Mineral oil is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Paraffin wax is a hydrogen carbon (Cn H2N+2). Carbon tetrachloride is made up of chlorine atoms and chloroform, which is very similar to chlorine but it contains an extra hydrogen atom. The glass...... middle of paper ...... praying shards of glass at deadly speed. Mythbusters also proved this to be true (Wikipedia.org). All of the materials that make up the lava lamp are very basic materials that are not difficult to find. The elements are responsible for the composition of these materials and the three sources from which these elements come are the Big Bang, the merger of stars or supernovas. Lava lamps were never intended to provide real light, but rather to be a fun decoration, unlike anything people had seen. When the psychedelic movement emerged along with drugs, Walker, the inventor, claimed, "If you buy my lamp, you won't need to buy drugs" (Bellis). Sales of lava lamps have declined in recent years, but around 400,000 lamps are still sold each year. Some even think that the lava lamp could make a comeback in recent years due to the changing times..