I've had a lava lamp on my last two office desks, in my last two jobs, and I must admit that I've always wondered how cool it must be to be a lava blob in one of those things. Nobody to nag you about anything, except maybe occasionally floating upwards, and mitosis every now and then.

Which brings me to the thrust of the idea - Construct a clear chamber with a small opening (to reduce the amount of heat loss to the open air), but the opening must, of course, be large enough to get into and out of with a small air supply (SCUBA comes to mind, although aqualungs might be sufficient). Put on your handy-dandy wetsuit that I just *know* you have lying around, a special face mask to protect your eyes, mouth, and nose, and dive right in!

There would, of course, be an optional "catch bag" so you could grab one of the blobs and allow it to carry you to the top of the chamber. And it could come in any number of color combinations. Bored with what you have? It automatically comes with a drainage system that heats the fluid base evenly, forcing the solids to the top, where they are skimmed and the fluid is drained, ready to be replaced with a new set of colors.

I can already see the industries that'd pop up around this one.

EDIT: See FarmerJohn's provided link (below). Apparently, he had a similar inkling of an idea, which I didn't find in a semi-exhaustive search of HB.

Sideways credit to FarmerJohn for a nearly-identical idea.
-- shapu, Jun 15 2004

Wonder Walls http://www.halfbake...idea/Wonder_20Walls
as annotated there by [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

//I can already see the industries that'd pop up around this one.//

I suppose they would slowly float up rather than pop up, no? Of course then they would have to sink back down again... the business world can be a vicious cycle at times.
-- luecke, Jun 15 2004


*insert 65 other Volcker jokes here*
-- shapu, Jun 15 2004


Pre-empting jokes so as to make any potential hecklers feel predictable and perhaps a little insecure, therefore eliminating the chance that any more jokes will be made? That's the quitters way out! (+)
-- spiritualized, Jun 15 2004


Wouldn't you get some very nasty burns?
-- MikeOliver, Jun 15 2004


Wow, I searched for it and everything. I think since you didn't use the word "lamp" in your anno, I didn't see it.

I'll stick your name in the original idea, although someone's welcome to MFD this if they think it's necessary.

[MikeOliver], that's what the wetsuit is for - the water in between the diver's skin and the rubber acts as an excellent insulator. Besides, lava lamps themselves aren't too much hotter than a heated whirlpool. ..doesn't seem like it's more than about 10-15degrees difference (Fahrenheit).
-- shapu, Jun 15 2004



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