Convection Concept

Demonstrations in Convection

Two lava lamps: a small blue lamp with purple wax at the bottom, and a large silver-based lamp with yellow wax showing active convection blobs rising
Safety

Lava Lamps

Provides a visible model of convection driven by thermal expansion. Students observe heated wax become less dense, rise through the surrounding liquid, cool at the top, and sink back down …
Three-panel time sequence: lower Erlenmeyer flask with pink dye on a yellow hot plate, connected by glass tubes to an upper flask. Left: pink water in lower flask, clear in upper. Center: pink water rising into upper flask. Right: upper flask nearly full of pink water.
Safety

Convection Flasks

Visualizes thermal convection in a connected two-flask system. Heated colored water in the lower flask rises through a connecting tube to displace cold clear water in the upper flask, demonstrating …