what causes this

[amiller09]

what causes the Lava Lamp to stay like this and not separate and flow properly

[amiller09]

Thanks for the responses!!

[Modulo '70]

We call this lava 'snaking' and a lot of people like this type of flow over bubbling. A lot of Mathmos lamps exhibit snaking like this.

[Brian]

It's one of my favorite things they do!