Have you ever been kept up at night wondering what would happen if you poured molten aluminium into a lava lamp? No? Well, neither had we, to be honest, but once you watch this video of the Backyard Scientist doing just that, we guarantee you won't be able to stop thinking about it.
The initial prediction at the start of the video is that the whole thing will explode. But what actually happens is a whole lot cooler. First of all, the Backyard Scientist gets his lava lamp warmed up, and heats up some aluminium to 660 degrees Celsius. He then takes the top off the lamp and pours in the molten metal (we hope we don't need to say this, but don't try this at home).
Although you'd expect the whole thing to quickly melt a hole in the bottom of the structure, it actually initially follows the wax pattern inside the water, before puddling at the bottom of the lava lamp and eventually burning right through the bottom, spilling waxy water out everywhere (RIP lava lamp).
But what's most fascinating is that when he goes back to check on the remains of the experiment the next day, he finds an incredible, Jabba the Hutt-like pile of solid aluminium, which has obviously been influenced by the bubbling lumps of lava wax within the lamp before solidifying.
Check it out above, and be mesmerised by gloopy liquid metal being poured into the cultural calling card of the '60s and '70s. It's beautiful.
H/T: Sploid