lol nice ,

I'm not at all convinced that what we are seeing here are the convection currents that normally drive a lava lamp, rather I think it more likely that we're seeing eddy currents created by a badly balanced centrifuge which results in uneven acceleration inside the lava lamp bottle.

Still, huge upvote for making a Meccano centrifuge in the dining room.

Yeah, a small centrifuge is not a really good choice for this experiment. Centripetal forces would play a much smaller role if the centrifuge were larger. Personally, the original question is one that would never occur to me. Density isn't affected by gravity, after all.

But as you say, still very cool project.

The Internet: Enabling people to prove that they have way too much time on their hands since the inception of streaming video.

>> ^Stormsinger:
Density isn't affected by gravity, after all.

Gravity affects pressure, which in turn affects density.

Solids and liquids don't compress as easily as gases, but they do compress. The amount of compression depends on the materials involved, though in this case I doubt the effect would be noticeable.

I think the atmospheric pressure on Jupiter at an altitude where the temperature is normal for us (~21C) is around 10atm, which should be fine as long as it doesn't break part of the lamp. I could imagine a situation where the red liquid gets trapped at the top, but I couldn't predict how likely that would be.

>> ^Psychologic:
>> ^Stormsinger:
Density isn't affected by gravity, after all.
Gravity affects pressure, which in turn affects density.
Solids and liquids don't compress as easily as gases, but they do compress. The amount of compression depends on the materials involved, though in this case I doubt the effect would be noticeable.
I think the atmospheric pressure on Jupiter at an altitude where the temperature is normal for us (~21C) is around 10atm, which should be fine as long as it doesn't break part of the lamp. I could imagine a situation where the red liquid gets trapped at the top, but I couldn't predict how likely that would be.


Point to you. I'd forgotten about compressibility. That said, I agree that 3G's is not likely to affect the density noticeably, especially when the continued function of the lamp actually only depends on the difference of the compressibility of the two liquids staying less than the heat-driven density changes.

The problem is definitely a bit deeper than I'd thought, but I'd still be willing to put significant money on the lamp continuing to function under quite a bit more G-force than Jupiter's.

I believe that a typical lava lamp has the liquid and semi-solid portions encased in a glass container. Wouldn't that render pressure issues irrelevant? The light bulb is also self contained in glass or similar air-tight container. All in all, I don't think outside air pressure is an issue until it becomes great enough to break the container.

>> ^MaxWilder:
I believe that a typical lava lamp has the liquid and semi-solid portions encased in a glass container. Wouldn't that render pressure issues irrelevant? The light bulb is also self contained in glass or similar air-tight container. All in all, I don't think outside air pressure is an issue until it becomes great enough to break the container.


Yea, if it's sealed then the only pressure change would be from the added weight of the liquids inside the lamp due to gravity, which shouldn't be much.

Temperature would be a bigger factor, depending on altitude. Talking about a lava lamp working "on Jupiter" is a little misleading since Jupiter is unlikely to have an actual surface.

Seriously? There's a fucking app for that?

>> ^Sketch:
Seriously? There's a fucking app for that?


A droid app, it would appear.

>> ^Psychologic:

Talking about a lava lamp working "on Jupiter" is a little misleading since Jupiter is unlikely to have an actual surface.


I think unlikely is tad pessimistic. It seems to me that as the planet is so large and relatively cold (the radiation it emits is roughly equal to that reaching it) that the immense pressure approaching the centre would cause heavier elements to solidify, thus creating a surface.

A more valid argument to me would be whether or not the "lava" would solidify on Jupiter.