Our ferrofluid lava lamp is actually significantly more efficient than traditional wax lava lamps. Our designs require half the watts in order to function for the same volume of fluids.

The 'lava' is made of a magnetic fluid called ferrofluid. Like an ordinary lava lamp, the dark fluid will form blobs that rise and fall on their own by simply turning on the light in the base. Unlike an ordinary lava lamp, you can now interact with the 'lava' with ordinary magnets.

 

 

 'The Rocket' ferrofluid lava lamp is the next generation lava lamp. And it's cool for a lot of reasons. The 'lava' inside that everyone is so familiar with has been updated with NASA derived nanotechnology in order to make it magnetic.

 The ferrofluid is a composite like material that exhibits liquid properties as well as the bizarre ability to be manipulated by a magnetic field. The nanoparticles are so small that they stay suspended in solution due to a force known as Brownian motion. It's like a beautiful sub-microscopic concert.

What is Ferrofluid?

Ferrofluid is an amazing magnetic liquid comprised of tiny iron oxide (magnetite) nanoparticles. It's an amazing technical feat that looks a lot like magical wizardry. The magnetic nanoparticles impart special properties to the liquid.

Normally, solid particles mixed in a liquid will eventually settle to the bottom because of gravity. Much like mixing sand in water. But, if the particles are small enough (say 10 nm) they won't be pulled down by gravity. This is because of a force called Brownian Motion.

Why does it spike?  

The spiking is the result of a few different forces competing with each-other. On a fundamental level these would be the van der Waals force (attractive/repulsive forces between molecules), gravity and the magnetic force.

History of Ferrofluid

NASA

Ferrofluid was invented by NASA scientists in the 1960's. The idea was to use it as rocket fuel and manipulate it in zero gravity with magnetic fields. They succeeded in making the first ferrofluid, but scrapped the magnetic rocket fuel idea.

FERROTEC

Ferrofluid eventually found beneficial uses outside of rocket fuel when two enterprising engineers liscenced the intellectual property. At the time they didn't know what it could be used for exactly, but they were determined to find something this interesting material could make better. Amazingly, it turned into a $100M industry from the new innovations that developed. This is the interesting story of how Ferrotec was founded. 

INSPIRED DESIGNS (That's Us!)

This is why we want to put our Ferrofluid Lava Lamp Technology into a lamp shaped like a rocket. It's potential as a rocket fuel was the original inspiration that lead to it's development. 

Welcome to the 21st Century

Of course, making the 'lava' in your lava lamp respond to magnetic fields breaths new life into the lava lamp concept. It goes from a classical nostalgic psychedelic centerpiece to a way far out interactive trippy masterpiece. 

 

But, it's not all mind bending time distortions and wavy landscapes for us at Inspired Designs LLC. We actually understand the science behind how all this works.

 

Includes Magnets  

Large Neodymium Magnet Wand  

The large neodymium magnet wand is included with 'The Rocket' Ferrofluid Lava Lamp. Anybody can add $20 to their pledge for an extra wand.  

Ceramic Magnets  

 

These 4 synthetic hematite magnets are also included with 'The Rocket' Ferrofluid Lava Lamp (in addition to the large magnet wand.)

Magnet Storage

 Magnets conveniently store on the base of 'The Rocket'. The cap and the bottom are made of non-magnetic aluminum, but the rim of the base is made of magnetic iron. This allows for easy placement of the magnets when no longer in use.

 

The Creator  

Hi, I'm Kyle. I've been making ferrofluid displays for 6 years. I started doing it full time 3 years ago. I hold a patent related to this technology and have raised funds for ferrofluid products on kickstarter 2X in the past.

I had great success with my previous kickstarter project where I unveiled the first ever ferrofluid lava lamp that I called 'The Inspiration'.  

The Inspiration was a hit and over 250 kickstarter backers pledged for it, helping the campaign raise over $88,000 (back then it cost $150 because it was so hard to produce). Overall, it was a great success. I've been selling ferrofluid products ever since.