Why Does Blue Lava Look Purple?

[Kris]

Curious as I do not know why and have 2 lamps that do this - why does blue lava look purple? I have 2 globes, one a 32 and one a 52 (thanks Steve!) and when they run, they look purple. They do look nice and blue when cold though.

I love the color - I am just curious about this.

[MattMJB0188]

I've noticed this too and its really annoying. According to LW they will get bluer with use but I don't see them doing this. The new blues from like 2001 and on look dead purple. The 90s blue clear globes look half way decent but the late ones... no way.

[Kris]

Yeah the 52 oz globe I got a few days ago says it's a 2000 globe. It's nice and blue cold, but blue/purple when hot. I love the color - I was just curious what caused it.

I also have a 90's blue clear that is pure blue when running. I have another new blue clear from the 90's that I have only run once that is the same as the 52, it looks purple. So I guess they might be right - the more you run it the bluer it gets?

[MattMJB0188]

Supposedly but I've had globes change color through out the course of their run such as blue white which looses the white look in the lava.

[Kris]

How long does it take for the white lava to no longer be white? I have 3 lamps with pure white lava with no signs of color change.

[MattMJB0188]

With a few of mine it took awhile. I runned some of mine everyday for like 10 hours and that will defitely do it. I would say the average color lasts on a globe would be 3 years with heavy use. All depends on how much the globe is used.

[Alfred]

It seems to depend on the batch. I have two more recent blue/white globes where the lava turned a dirty yellow color, but I have an older 2003 model where the lava remains perfectly white. I think this is just a matter of the Chinese manufacturer changing out the dyes used for the blue color with ones which tend to mix with the wax.