Will a Lava Lamp Work on Jupiter?

[Logan Westbrook]

Will a Lava Lamp Work on Jupiter?

Finally, one of the most important questions plaguing the scientific community has been answered, will Jovian gravity defeat a lava lamp?


Did you know that Jupiter's gravity is slightly more than double that of the Earth, and more importantly, do you know what effect that added gravity would have on a lava lamp? Neil Fraser's Jovian lava lamp experiment isn't quite in the same league as the Large Hadron Collider, but it's a fun little experiment with a funny video.

Fraser built a centrifuge out of Erector kits - also known as Meccano outside the US - and calibrated it to simulate the gravity found on Jupiter. According to Fraser the centrifuge is "a genuinely terrifying device" and the experiment was conducted "from the relative safety of the next room while peeking through a crack in the door."

Fraser used his Droid phone to measure the g-force the lava lamp sustained, and despite the Droid's accelarometers not being quite calibrated right, the experiemtn was still a success, and Fraser was able to answer his question. What that answer was however, I'm not saying. Either watch the video, or visit Fraser's homepage [http://neil.fraser.name/hardware/centrifuge/] and read all about the experiment for yourself.

Source: Crunch Gear [http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/13/would-a-lava-lamp-work-on-jupiter/]




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[Jared]

Wow o.o Well, its good to know people out there are trying to answer the important questions in life!

It makes me giggle as I was watching "Martian Successor Nedesico" the other day and when it first mentioned Jovian I was thinking something totally different for a moment, lol

At least I know one thing will work on Jupiter lol

 

[Da Joz]

Thank god somebody did this, not knowing whether a lava lamp will work on jupiter has been keeping me up at night.

 

[uppitycracker]

What's the answer, for those of us who have bosses walking behind us every now and then, thus preventing us from watching videos or reading lengthy articles? I MUST KNOW!!!!!!!

 

[silver wolf009]

Finally i know that i can bring my lava lamp to jupiter. Thanks guy!

 

[Eleima]

Fraser used his Droid phone to measure the g-force the lava lamp sustained, and despite the Droid's accelerometers not being quite calibrated right, the experiment was still a success, and Fraser was able to answer his question.

Am I a grammar nazi? Well, maybe. =*)

Neat little experiment, although I can't say I blame him for watching from not staying in the same room while the thing was running. I had Meccano as a child, and while pretty sturdy, I won't trust it not to go flying into bits!
At least I'll be able to sleep soundly tonight, knowing that the lava lamp will work on Jupiter!!

 

[VanityGirl]

Slow news day? Just joking!

That's really cool. I like how this guy built that contraption inside of his house! It was pretty cool to watch.

 

[Yumi_and_Erea]

Actually it still wouldn't work, since the surface of Jupiter is over a hundred degrees below freezing point.

Still, cool experiment.

 

[Drakmeire]

Thanks now I know that I can fulfill my dream of having a 70's style apartment on Jupiter... Oh wait I still can't, no human can live on Jupiter since its mostly a giant ball of gas and if we stood on it we'd fall into the core.
I'll live on the planet Pluto... ohh whoops I forgot. I hate science for taking away my favorite planet's planethood

 

[Distorted Stu]

Still not as bad as the scientists who make slugs crawl over razor blades to see what happens. Also, i couldnt help lol at the lava lamp video. The music was just too perfectly fitting!

 

[Ithera]

A better question would be "Who cares"? Better to spend time on developing spacetravel, and fancy BFG's for blasting aliens.

 

[Daemascus]

Sure it would work till the extreme pressures crushed it.

 

[Stilt-Man]

The experiment is regarding Jupiter's gravity, not Jupiter's environment. Everyone knows the lava lamp wouldn't work on Jupiter -- there's no electricity there.

I think this is fantastic -- it's encouraging to see someone taking the initiative to learn something for themselves, as opposed to just Googling/Wiki-ing it. I'm sure this all boils down to Mythbusters science, but even so, all I did in my hey-day was read comic books and play video games.

Well done, Mr. Fraser.

 

[TheRealGoochman]

That was actually pretty cool.
But now I sort of want to go to an amusement park, and ride a twirly ride.......I found myself wanting to put my hands up and go "weeee" every time I was in the first person spinny view.

But yeah...that was pretty cool, and I wonder how long the contraption took to build.

 

[ssgt splatter]

He has way too much time on his hands.

 

[solidstatemind]

Wow, somebody has wayyyy too much time on his hands: I didn't realize that this was even in question- gravity has nothing to do with insolubility, so changing the gravity impacts both fluids equally, and you shouldn't expect their behavior to change. (You're affecting the same change on both sides of the equation, in other words). Maybe you could argue that there possibly would be less movement, but...

No, I think the real issue with a lava lamp on Jupiter would be the increased atmospheric pressure (which, while it wouldn't affect the insolubility) could result in the less-dense fluid being broken down into very small particles-- but I doubt Mr. Fraser will be able to construct a device to accurately simulate that.

But props to him anyway for entertainment value alone.

 

[Rainboq]

[HEADING=1]SCIENCE![/HEADING]

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

Damn, was hoping for something to go terribly wrong. But now I can pack my lava lump next time I travel to jupiter.

 

[Caradinist]

To all of you who keep saying he has way too much time on his hands, how useless this information could be in your daily life, please keep in mind of the following word:

[HEADING=1]SCIENCE![/HEADING]

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I'm more impressed that someone was able to build a working centrifuge out of an Erector set. That thing looked awfully rickety and I was slightly afraid it might fly apart when it got going too fast. I bet Fraser was too.

Also I had no idea Jupiter's gravity was that low. So I learned something today.