I studied real lava lamps a bit to get the basis for this project and
have come to the conclusion that wax that blobs together is considerably
more interesting. I think my interpretation of the physics of the motion
is fairly complete, at least to the point that it could fake what really
happens fairly well. The only thing missing is some algorithms for the
graphics/blobing.

Ron Parker wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 27 Sep 1999 11:09:40 -0400, Chris Maryan wrote:
> >The area would be spherical when the center point is
> >away from any other center point/area groups and would blend together
> >with other groups when they are close (Think blobs, defined by a center
> >point and having a specific radius when not influenced by other blobs).
> 
> This isn't true of the lava lamp in my son's room.  The blobs in his
> lamp don't tend to merge due to surface tension and/or temperature effects,
> so most of them end up being either spherical or ellipsoidal after they
> separate from the mass of wax at the bottom of the lamp.  They tend to
> change eccentricity as they rise, due to oscillations induced by the "neck"
> breaking and a large quantity of wax being pulled toward the center of
> the blob by surface tension.  There is also an area at the top of the lamp
> populated by a bunch of spheres of various sizes, packed together (and thus
> no longer spherical, but you might get away with representing them as spheres
> for POV purposes.)  Every now and then, one of those spheres cools off enough
> to sink back to the bottom but it doesn't attempt to merge with blobs on their
> way up; it seems to bounce or roll off of them.  How long it takes a sphere to
> cool and fall is probably a complex function of its radius (the ratio of volume
> to surface area is proportional to radius) and its position within the cluster
> (the temperature gradient is probably higher near the outside of the lamp, so
> heat transfer takes place more quickly.)

-- 
Chris Maryan
mailto: mar### [at] mcmasterca
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