Design Life-Cycle

Taswar Kabir

Christina Cogdell

DES40A

Lava Lamp Life Cycle: Raw Marterials

The lava lamp was created as a decorative lamp for households in 1963. As the decades progressed, the lava lamp remained relevant as a funky piece of artwork that many families owned. As common as the lamp became, the life cycle of this seemingly simple product is very complex. The list of materials required in the manufacturing process of a lava lamp seems endless, and that’s why the production, distribution, and waste management of lava lamps are also so complicated. From many different types of metals to produce the hardware inside the lamp, different compositions of glass for the bottle housing and bulb, and more complex materials used to create the centerpiece of the lamp, moving paraffin wax, the lava lamp is a fantastic example of how various raw materials from all over the Earth can be compiled to construct such a complex life cycle of a product. Moreover, the lava lamp is a great example of how such a complicated life cycle can be further examined regarding its transportation of materials before production, after production, and energy spent in its proper waste disposal. 

The majority of the elements required in the raw materials of creating a lava lamp are metals and metal ores extracted from all over the planet. The two most used metals, Aluminum and Zinc, are used in manufacturing the base and cap of the lava lamp. Aluminum, generally mined from Bauxite ore in Australia, is refined into alumina. This alumina is further refined into aluminum to be used in the base, cap, and base of the light bulb, but is also mixed with other materials to help create the glass bottle for the lamp (Drahl). Zinc alloys are also used in the base of the lamp. Zinc is mined all around the world in over 40 different countries, but the leading producer is China and that is likely where the Zinc comes from as the vast majority of lava lamps are produced in China (Lava Lamp: 2010 WHERE Challenge). 

Inside of the base of the lava lamp is where the hardware of the lamp is housed, including the light bulb and all the wiring for the lamp. The light bulb itself is compiled of many different parts. The base of the light bulb is made of aluminum, which leads to a nickel, copper, and silicon fuse. The wires are also made of a nickel-iron combination and is wrapped in a copper sleeve (Price). The Nickel is refined from Niccolite ore deposits in Australia, Canada, and Russia. The copper wiring and copper sleeves are usually refined from azurite or malachite, two ores that are mainly produced in Chile but appear in reserves all around the world (Lava Lamp: 2010 WHERE Challenge). As silicon is one of the most common elements on Earth, silicon alloys in the hardware are generally mined from silica ores such as Feldspar and Quartz mainly out of the U.S., Brazil, and Russia. 

The glass bulb itself is composed of glass made from silica, soda ash, lime, and a tungsten filament (Hand-Blown Glass: Manufacturing Process). The Tungsten is mined in China as that’s where nearly half the world’s reserves of Tungsten are located. Soda Ash is formed in volcanic rock and tends to be mined from deposits all around the world but mainly in the U.S. and China. Chemical lime is mined from carbonate rocks such as limestone, majorly produced in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and parts of Europe (Lava Lamp: 2010 WHERE Challenge). The glass produced to create the light bulb tends to be harder glass than the one used in the glass bottle enclosure as the light bulb needs to withstand higher temperatures. The vast majority of light bulbs in lava lamps are halogen bulbs, which hold a small trace of halogen gas that reacts to the tungsten filament (a metal with an extremely high melting point) inside the bulb to create a longer lifespan and brightness of the bulb (Price). The base and cap come together to hold the centerpiece of the lava lamp, the glass bottle and its components.

The glass bottle encloses the party trick of the lamp itself, the moving pieces of paraffin wax and the gooey liquid around it. Craven Walker, the inventor of the lava lamp, patented the formula to create the artistic display of the lamp as a mixture of mineral oil with light paraffin, carbon tetrachloride, different dyes depending on the color of the “lava”, and paraffin wax (McVean). Mineral oil is the liquified version of Paraffin, a type of hydrocarbon called an alkane. Hydrocarbons are molecules that are composed of only hydrogen and carbon, and in the case of Paraffin and most alkanes, this type of hydrocarbon contains only one bond, giving it a free flowing structure (Fox). Paraffins are usually acquired from petroleum, more specifically, the distillation of petroleum in various methods to achieve either wax or mineral oil. Over half of all petroleum deposits are found within the Middle East, the location where most petroleum that is eventually distilled into paraffin wax and oil comes from. In the mixture of paraffin wax and mineral oil is the colorful dye and carbon tetrachloride, a colorless liquid that can be created with the bonding of four chloride molecules and a carbon atom. Carbon Tetrachloride helps make the the wax thicker and is almost inflammable at low temperatures. This mixture to create the “lava” wax flows within a liquid that is composed of about 70% water and 30% glycerol (Fox). Glycerol is mainly derived from chains of fatty acid tails in plants or petroleum, is extremely abundant all over Earth, and adds to the viscosity of the liquid inside of lava lamps that makes the Paraffin wax move so slowly around the glass bottle (Ullmann). When put together with the hardware inside the base of the lamp, these substances create a unique display of moving globs inside of the glass housing that is distributed to households all around the world. 

Available for purchase in most general merchandise retailers both in person and online, lava lamps are sold all around the world and target a wide range of audiences. The raw materials required for transportation and distribution of lava lamps consists of the burned fossil fuels that are used in transportation of the mineral ores from all around the world, the explosives used to mine deposits, the energy spent in refining these minerals, the energy spent during the production process of assembling all these materials into a lava lamp, and the fossil fuels burned by ships, planes, and trucks during distribution. The fossil fuels used during transportation is the biggest contributor of raw material usage as most lava lamps are manufactured in China, then shipped globally to reach all kinds of households. 

Lava lamps are generally a one-time purchase product that cannot be reused due to the toxic chemicals and problems with recycling its materials. As lava lamps are bought by all ages as common household accessories and novelty items, they do not require much maintenance other than proper storage when not in use, and can exceed 2000 hours of use before they start to show problems or stop working (McVean). Like most household accessories, however, the reusability for lava lamps is almost nonexistent. Once dead, replacement bottles can be purchased, but there is very little that can be done to reuse a lava lamp for other purposes.

The copper wiring inside of the hardware housing of a lava lamp consists of approximately 30% of recyclable copper (Gyüre, Balázs, Jánosi). While the tungsten in lava lamps cannot be recycled due to its toxic mixture with the halogen gas inside of the light bulb, Tungsten in general is a metal that can be recycled in the process of mining its ore significantly more than most metals. The Nickel, Aluminum, Zinc alloys, glass, light bulb, and Paraffin wax solution are all materials that cannot be recycled from a lava lamp for reuse and thus must be properly disposed with other methods.

The waste management of a lava lamp is similar to other household accessories, but still requires a long grueling process of proper waste disposal. Most of the waste is sent overseas for toxic recycling due to the relaxed recycling rules and cheap worker wages for high-risk occupations in developing third-world countries (Advocate). Again, the fossil fuels burned during transportation from the local dumps to shipping ports and then to these developing countries is another major aspect of raw materials used during the life cycle of a lava lamp. During the manufacturing process and more so during waste disposal, a third-party material called Microplastics are included in the life cycle. Microplastics are small pieces of plastic debris resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products. Lava lamps are categorized under Electronic waste (e-waste) as the mixture in the glass bottle housing consists of such toxic chemicals that it needs to be disposed of as hazardous waste. As a result, the chemical mixture is not feasible to separate for reuse and recycling as there is no demand for the secondary materials within lava lamps, making the costs associated with recycling the lamp inefficient. 

The raw material acquisition of a lava lamp is an extremely complicated process that requires gathering materials from all around the world, bringing them to China, assembling the lamp, and then distributing them once again around the world. The materials used in the manufacturing process and development of lava lamps goes far beyond just the materials required to create it — they include all the raw materials and fuels needed just to bring the materials to their manufacturing facilities, transport them globally, and the energy used during production and proper hazardous material disposal. Ever since the lava lamp was invented in 1963, it has reached families and households all over the world, and will continue to live out its complex life cycle for many years to come.  

Works Cited

Advocate, Dev L. “Lessons from the Lava Lamp.” AGU Journals, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 3 June 2011, agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/96EO10183.

Drahl, Carmen. “What's That Stuff? Lava Lamps.” CEN RSS, 18AD, 2008, cen.acs.org/articles/86/i7/Lava-Lamps.html.

Fox, Marty, et al. “The Ammonia Lava Lamp: A Colorful Demonstration of Diffusion.” Journal of College Science Teaching, vol. 25, no. 4, 1996, pp. 286–288. JSTOR, 

www.jstor.org/stable/42990884. 

Gyüre, Balázs, and Imre M. Jánosi. “Basics of Lava-Lamp Convection.” Physical Review E, journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.046307.

“Hand-Blown Glass: Manufacturing Process.” The London Crown Glass Company - Description of the Manufacturing Process, 8 Feb. 2001, web.archive.org/web/20051106023351/http://www.londoncrownglass.co.uk/Manufacturing.html.

“Lava Lamp: 2010 WHERE Challenge.” Earth Sciences Canada, 2010, earthsciencescanada.com/where/upload/09-10-winners/59.pdf.

McVean, Ada. “The Luminescent Chemistry of Lava Lamps.” Office for Science and Society, 19 July 2018, www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/luminescent-chemistry-lava-lamps.

Price, Nancy J. “What's inside Lava Lamps, and How Do They Work?” Myria, 7 July 2019, myria.com/whats-inside-lava-lamps-and-how-do-they-work.

Tucker, Abigail. “The History of the Lava Lamp.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Mar. 2013, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-the-lava-lamp-21201966/.

Ullmann, Fritz. “Ethylene Glycol.” Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Verlag Chemie, 1985, pp. 222–224.

Nicolas Chew

Christina Cogdell

Design 40A Section 01

Lava Lamp Life-Cycle Analysis

A lava lamp is not only complicated to manufacture, but it is equally complicated to recycle

the constituent parts. Lava lamps are made up of over a dozen different materials combined in

different ways to be assembled into a working product. It takes a great deal of resources and

energy to produce the components of a lava lamp. At its core, a modern lava lamp is constructed

from an aluminum base, copper wire, an incandescent bulb, a glass container, and a complex

mixture of chemicals.

In a lava lamp, a complex cocktail of hydrocarbons, wax, and other compounds are

responsible for the signature aesthetic and glow. The colorful globules that are present in a lava

lamp are made from paraffin wax, which is refined and extracted from petroleum. The contents

include: perchloroethylene (PERC), paraffin wax, synthetic dyes, carbon tetrachloride, ethylene

glycol, deionized water, mineral oil, and some secret ingredients that the manufacturers will not

disclose to the public. Most of these ingredients are synthesized from hydrocarbons found in

crude oil. Emissions and by-products from the refining of crude oil include carbon dioxide,

carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, soot, tar, and other chemicals.

When it comes to disposal, the chemical mixture in a lava lamp is not economically feasible to

separate for recycling due to a lack of demand for the secondary sources of the ingredients and

because of the costs associated with recycling and processing. Although the lamp manufacturers

claim that their lamps are non toxic, many of the chemicals in the lamp are harmful such as

ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) and carbon tetrachloride. As a side note, carbon tetrachloride is

banned in the manufacturing of modern lamps. However, older models do contain carbon

tetrachloride. Both carbon tetrachloride and ethylene glycol affects the kidney, brain, heart, liver,

and other vital organs if ingested. Due to the toxicity of some of the chemicals in the mixture, the

contents have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. However, the majority of lava lamps are

disposed of in the landfill or in incinerators where the mixture leaches out over time,

contaminating the groundwater.

The light bulb and glass bottles are made of similar materials with the exception that the light

bulb contains metal components and an inert gas. Light bulbs are made from an aluminum base,

glass, tungsten, and are filled with an inert noble gas called Argon. Argon is used to displace any

oxygen in the bulb and it extends the life cycle of the filaments because argon will not react with

the tungsten filaments when it is heated up. At the end of the light bulb’s life cycle, the glass,

tungsten, and aluminum can be easily separated by crushing and shredding the components.

The argon gas is usually not recaptured or recycled, however, it is a harmless gas that makes up

1% of the atmosphere. Glass recovered from the light bulb or from the bottle can be theoretically

recycled endlessly without any loss in material quality, given that there is proper infrastructure

available to collect, process, and re-melt the glass.

One of the most important metals used to make lava lamps is copper. Copper that is mined

from the Earth’s crust and have not been derived from recycled sources is known as virgin

copper or primary copper. Due to the world’s increasing demand of copper, recycled sources

alone cannot satiate our appetite for this reddish- orange metal, so we must extract more of it

from the Earth. Primary copper production begins with open pit mines where the copper bearing

rock, known as ore is extracted. The copper content of the majority of mined ore is between 0.5

and 2 percent copper by weight for 1 ton of ore. Mining of copper produces a massive amount of

waste rock which is dumped nearby, which can harm the environment by leaching heavy metals

into the water. There are a multitude of chemical processes that extract elemental copper from

ore or concentrate that include: crushing, leaching, and floating the copper in a solution.

Leaching copper involves the use of hazardous substances such as sulphuric acid which is used

to dissolve the copper in the ore.

When the copper ore concentrate is smelted, it releases Sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere,

which then causes acid rain. Acid rain that falls more frequently and at higher concentrations

destroys forests, crops, and damages human infrastructure by eroding away concrete and metal.

Secondary sources of copper are obtained from recycling copper containing items such as old

electronics, appliances, insulated copper wire, and plumbing fixtures. In the scrap metal

recycling industry, insulated copper wire or ICW as abbreviated is sorted into several different

categories and grades. These grades go according to the amount of recoverable copper, alloying

elements, and its difficulty to process for recycling. The copper wire that is used in a lava lamp

consists of approximately 30-35% recoverable copper by weight with the remainder being

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and nickel plated brass. In the industry, this grade of ICW is

commonly referred to as #2/#3 ICW or low grade insulated wire. The PVC serves as the

insulating exterior of the cable which allows the electric current to flow from the outlet to the

lamp without dissipating or electrocuting the user. The PVC makes up approximately 65-70% of

the weight of the wire. The metallic prongs that are imbedded in the plug are comprised of nickel

plated brass which comprises about 5% net of the weight of the cord.

Although higher grades of ICW such as house cable and THHN are recycled domestically, low

grade insulated wire is shipped overseas to developing countries such as China, India, and

Vietnam for processing due to it being more economical. Developing countries are known for

their less stringent environmental laws as well as having lower worker wages compared to

developed countries. In the past, it was a common practice for copper recyclers in the United

States to burn the plastic insulation off their scrap as it was a simple and inexpensive way to

remove the insulation before melting down the copper. However, as the EPA passed more

stringent air quality laws, the practice burning of copper wire was exported overseas along with

low grade copper wire that needed processing. Burning PVC plastic releases a spectrum of

carcinogens, carbon particulates, and harsh fumes which are not only detrimental to the

environment, but to human health as well. When Polyvinylchloride is heated to high

temperatures or burned, it produces hydrogen chloride and hydrochloric acid gas which can burn

the eyes and lungs of people who come into contact with the fumes or inhale them. Burning the

plastic insulation to remove it has not always been the solution.

As the price of oil began to rise over the past several years, recyclers had a higher incentive to

separate the vinyl insulation without burning it. The vinyl could be separated out and used as a

raw material feedstock for making plastic products that used vinyl. The copper and vinyl is

generally recovered from wire waste by using powerful machines to chop up the wire into small

granules that are separated by using a water table or a pressurized air-cyclone system. However,

this form of waste disposal comes with other environmental issues such as the release of toxic

microplastics into the environment. According to the Oxford Dictionary, microplastics are

“extremely small pieces of plastic debris in the environment resulting from the disposal and

breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste”. Many of these plastic particles are

microscopic and can absorb other pollutants such as furans and dioxins which are also the

by-products of burning industrial and plastic waste. The microplastics that have absorbed these

toxins are often consumed by organisms which mistake them for food and then bioaccumulate in

the food chain. Bioaccumulation of toxins is harmful to all humans because toxins can

accumulate in the food we eat.

The base and top cap of the lava lamp are made from aluminum alloy that is cut from a sheet

of aluminum and then spun into shape. The aluminum used can be sourced from metal mined

from the Earth (primary), recycled aluminum (secondary) or a mixture of both. Primary

aluminum is extracted from its ore, a sedimentary rock known as Bauxite. Bauxite is mostly

mined in tropical countries due to the geological conditions required to produce it, however it

can also be found in the United States. Although aluminum is the most abundant metallic

element in the Earth’s crust, it is commercially extracted from bauxite due to it being the most

economical to extract and process. Primary aluminum production uses a tremendous amount of

energy to refine and produce due to the Hall- Heroult process.

Primary aluminum production releases airborne emissions such as carbon dioxide, gaseous

hydrogen fluoride, and aluminum fluorides. The fluorides are from the cryolite flux used in the

Hall-Heroult process. Other emissions are bauxite tailings and red mud which is a highly alkaline

sludge that is left over after bauxite is crushed and the aluminum oxide (alumina) is extracted

from it during the Bayer process which uses sodium hydroxide . The red mud is disposed of in

large man made lakes that serve as waste reservoirs. These reservoirs have the potential to leak

or rupture, spilling the toxic waste into the environment.

Secondary sources of aluminum are sourced from scraps of aluminum from post consumer or

post industrial sources. Scraps are collected, baled, shredded and melted in a furnace to produce

new refined aluminum for manufacturing. Post consumer scrap aluminum is sourced from

collected pots and pans, appliances, and other items which were made from 3003 aluminum

alloy. Whereas scrap aluminum from lava lamp production when parts are cut out would be

considered post industrial, which normally has a higher purity compared to post consumer

aluminum. Although there is significantly less waste produced from secondary aluminum

production compared to primary production, the smelting process still does emit some emissions

and generate by-products. As scrap aluminum is melted down in a furnace, the impurities present

in the metal float to the top and are skimmed off. This waste product is known as dross and is a

mixture of impurities and aluminum that oxidized with the air while it was heated up. Dross that

is not discarded in landfills is ground up to be used as an ingredient for strengthening cement and

even for fertilizer production. Melting and refining Aluminum metal also has its fair share of

airborne emissions. The majority of the emissions produced are related to the energy generation

process which is necessary to produce electricity that is used to split the aluminum oxide

molecules during the electrolysis of alumina to produce primary aluminum.

Lava lamps are not only complicated to manufacture, but they can be quite difficult to recycle.

The materials that go into making a lamp are sourced from all over the world and after it is

discarded, it is disposed of and recycled in other countries. Manufacturing practices should be

analyzed and improved to help the circular economy develop sustainably.

Bibliography Works Cited

Ba, Te, et al. "Estimation and characterization of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs from secondary copper and aluminum metallurgies in China." ​Chemosphere ​ 75.9 (2009): 1173-1178.

Benjamin, Kelly. “Insulated Wire, What's Protecting Your Cable? - PWC.” Performance Wire and Cable, 27 Feb. 2018,​ ​www.performancewire.com/insulated-wire-protection/​.

Charbonneau, Mark William, et al. "Systems and methods for glass manufacturing." U.S. Patent No. 9,021,838. 5 May 2015.

“Christmas Lights Make Slippers In Global 'Junkyard' Economy.” ​NPR ​ , NPR, 13 Nov. 2013, www.npr.org/2013/11/13/244984351/christmas-lights-make-slippers-in-global-junkyard-econom y​.

“Copper Mining and Production Wastes.” EPA, EPA, 17 Jan. 2017, https://www.epa.gov/radiation/tenorm-copper-mining-and-production-wastes.

“Electro Refining of Copper.” Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul. http://www.ct.ufrgs.br/ntcm/graduacao/ENG06631/5-b_copper.pdf

Fox, Marty, et al. “The Ammonia Lava Lamp: A Colorful Demonstration of Diffusion.” ​Journal of College Science Teaching ​ , vol. 25, no. 4, 1996, pp. 286–288. ​JSTOR ​ ,

G. JARJOURA, G.J. KIPOUROS. (2006)​ ​ELECTROCHEMICAL STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF NICKEL ON COPPER ANODE PASSIVATION IN A COPPER SULPHATE SOLUTION​. Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly ​ 45:3, pages 283-294.

Gao, Feng, et al. "Greenhouse gas emissions and reduction potential of primary aluminum production in China." Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences 52.8 (2009): 2161-2166.

Hatayama, Hiroki, et al. "Evolution of aluminum recycling initiated by the introduction of next-generation vehicles and scrap sorting technology." ​Resources, Conservation and Recycling 66 (2012): 8-14.

Hossain, M. Enamul, et al. "Comparative pathway analysis of paraffin wax and beeswax for industrial applications." ​International Journal of Characterization and Development of Novel Materials ​ 1.4 (2010): 1-13.

panel, Author links open overlay, and Publisher SummaryAn important operation in the production of lubricating oils is the dewaxing of the corresponding petroleum fractions and residues. “II. Manufacture of Paraffin Waxes and Ceresins from Petroleum.” Developments in Petroleum Science, Elsevier, 5 May 2008, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037673610870147X​.

Sze On Chan, Hardy. “Measurement of Hydrochloric Acid Emission From Burning PVC Compounds.” Journal of Fire Sciences, vol. 2, no. 2, Mar. 1984, pp. 106–122,

Tufvesson, Linda M., and Pål Börjesson. "Wax production from renewable feedstock using biocatalysts instead of fossil feedstock and conventional methods." ​The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ​ 13.4 (2008): 328.

YouTube ​ , The Science Channel, 24 Aug. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AtBTP0Hf4g&feature=youtu.be.

Kayla McKechnie

Des 40A 

Section A03

The Life Cycle of a lava lamp: Energy 

The lava lamp is a classic figure most popularly seen in the 90s that is still a big role in home decoration of the younger generation today. The lava lamp requires a large amount of electricity and longer amounts of time in order for the liquids inside to heat up and provide the motion effect that the lava lamp is known for. With materials including glass, light bulb, wires, and the oils and waxes inside, there are many opportunities for embodied energy to be found within the lifecycle of a lava lamp in conjunction with energy use while using the product.

1. Materials and Raw Materials

The lava lamp is made up of a range of materials. At first glance we can see that there is an aluminum base, with a glass bottle, a lightbulb and chord for the plug in of the lamp. Inside the glass bottle contains paraffin wax, a coil to help heat the wax and break up surface tension and the liquid within the bottle that consists of water, glycerol and petroleum. It is important to then further look at the raw materials that goes into each individual material. Starting with Aluminum is made from combining the raw materials of alumina and bauxite which then has to be flattened into sheets that can be used to form molds. (Primary Production). Additionally the glass bottle is an important component that is not a raw material. Glass is made from silica sand, limestone and soda ash. The sand has to be melted at a very high temperature of around 3090 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the glass is made it then needs to be reheated and blown to form the shapes necessary (What is glass).  The paraffin wax is the most important material that essentially ‘makes’ the lava lamp. The wax becomes less dense than the water when heated which allows it to float up to the top, cool and then float back down. Parraffin wax is created from a substance called petroleum. Petroleum can be found through oil drilling and is a fossil fuel that has a high carbon content and is also used in gas (petrol) that goes into one’s car. Petroleum can be found around the world but runs in copious amounts in Russia and Saudi Arabia particularly and then shipped around the world. Each of these processes to form materials from raw materials exudes energy that needs to be considered when thinking of the energy output of a product. 

1. Manufacturing and distribution

Today the main lava lamp company in the US is that of Lava Lite LLC (recently changed name to (Lava Lamp) owned by Schylling Inc in 2005 the company shipped production of its lava lamps from the US to China. The Lava Lite LLC brand sells its products in places including “ Walmart, Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond” The Lava Lites were originally made in a factory in Chicago but since 2005 have been made in China as the CEO (Farnsworth) deems it “no longer economically viable”. ( Jansen)  This shift however has a major impact on the embodied energy of the product. Being sold in US stores of Walmart and home depot across country requires movement through trucks throughout the country when produced on land in the USA, being more local, less energy is necessary for transportation. With Manufacturing in China, the increase in milage to even enter the United States plays a role in the energy expended by the making of the lava lamp in itself. The use of planes and ships to transport the goods leads to greater energy expenditure than if the product were produced within the country it is sold. While I am mainly looking at the production and Manufacturing of the ‘lava lamp’ in the US, it is important to note the UK counterpart in the company ‘Mathmos’ and the ways in which they manufacture their products. Mathmos to this day has their products made within the UK. Granger whom works with Mathmos states “The bottles are made in Yorkshire, the bases are made in Devon, the bottles are filled in Poole and the lamps assembled to order in Poole.”. And while the US company fell to pressure to shift production to US, The UK company resisted this urge. (The lava lamp that just won’t quit) the Lava Lite LLC brand sells its products in places including “ Walmart, Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond” The Lava Lites were originally made in a factory in Chicago but since 2005 have been made in China as the CEO (Farnsworth) deems it “no longer economically viable”. ( Jensen)  

D. Energy

embodied energy can be found in every part of the lava lamps life cycle. 

We can first look at embodied energy as being produced by the raw materials that are found within the lava lamp. Raw materials include glass, typically a 40 watt frosted bulb, electrical plug and wire, and the plating that holds the lava lamp together. In addition the interior liquids that produce the “lava” effect include oil and water soluble colorants, and a mixture of water with isopropyl alcohol and mineral oil. Every material takes energy to be produced, shipped and used, so it is important to consider in the development of a products life cycle. As a product of lighting, it is important to consider the energy used while the product is on in addition to the embodied energy of the product. Due to the lamp being  lava lamp, heat becomes an important factor in the product in addition to light. The lava lamp needs considerable time, generally 2 hours fr a 40 watt lightbulb in order for the liquid ingredients inside the glass tube to heat up enough to product the lava lamp effect that the light is known for. 

1. Recycling

Light bulbs are easily replaceable for any kind of lava lamp. a 40 Watt lightbulb, that most lava lamps at an average size use will last on average up to 2000 hours. Lava lamps use incandescent light bulb kinds of bulbs because they are to mainly produce heat and while LED bulbs may last longer they do not produce as much heat. Currently the United States company ‘Lava Lamp’ only sells its products as a whole there fore one would need to purchase the product in its entirety to replace it. However Mathmos In Britain Sells replacement bottles so the aluminum base and other parts and components do not have to be repurchased or remade. The lava lamp components is deemed to be nontoxic yet in a study that followed a man whom swallowed the liquid inside, Kerosene and other substances were found. 

Bibliography

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Fox, Marty, et al. “The Ammonia Lava Lamp: A Colorful Demonstration of Diffusion.” Journal of College Science Teaching, vol. 25, no. 4, 1996, pp. 286–288. JSTOR, 

Eldridge, Erik.  Lawrence, Jake.  Iber,Ignacio. “Lava Lamp 2.0 : The Inductioning”. Design Review. 

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Drahl, Carmen. “What's That Stuff? Lava Lamps.” CEN RSS, cen.acs.org/articles/86/i7/Lava-Lamps.html.

Advocate, Dev L. “Lessons from the Lava Lamp.” AGU Journals, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2 July 1996, agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/96EO10183.

Thomas Alan Clark, "Lava lamp optics," Appl. Opt.  50, F16-F20 (2011)

Gyüre, Balázs, and Imre M. Jánosi. “Basics of Lava-Lamp Convection.” Physical Review E, American Physical Society, 8 Oct. 2009, journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.046307.

“FAQ.” Lava® Lamp, lavalamp.com/faq/.