What are the two substances in a Lava Lamp, and why do they react the way they do?

I’m afraid that I’m unable to determine exactly what substances the lamp contains. However, I believe that one of them is water and the other is a high-density wax. When the lamp is cold, the wax is a crystal solid with a density slightly higher than that of water. Because the buoyant force this wax experiences from the water is less than its weight, the wax sinks to the bottom of the lamp. But when the lamp is on, the bottom of its container heats up and the wax begins to melt. Like most materials, wax’s liquid phase is substantially less dense than its solid phase. As it melts, the wax expands so much that its density drops below the density of water and it floats upward to the cool top of the container. Once it reaches the top, the wax begins to solidify. As it solidifies, the wax contracts so much that its density rises above the density of water and it sinks downward to the bottom of the container. Thus when the lamp is in full operation, the rising bubbles of wax are liquid and the descending bubbles of wax are solid. Dyes are added to the two materials to make them more visible—the water is colored by a water-soluble dye (perhaps food coloring) while the wax is colored by an oil-soluble dye (like those used in permanent markers).

How does a mass spectrometer work and why must it be evacuated before being used?

A mass spectrometer is a device that measures the masses of the atoms or molecules in a sample. There are many different types of mass spectrometers but they all work on roughly the same principle: they give each atom or molecule a single electric charge and look at how easy or hard it is to accelerate that atom or molecule by pushing on it with electric or magnetic fields. The more mass the atom or molecule has, the more slowly it will accelerate in response to a particular force. Some mass spectrometers use an electric field to push the atoms or molecules forward until they all have the same amount of kinetic energy and the more massive particles end up traveling more slowly than the less massive particles. Their masses can then be determined by timing how long it takes them to travel a certain distance or by sending them through a magnetic field that bends their flight paths. Because the force that a magnetic field exerts on a moving particle increases with that particle’s speed, the paths of slow moving massive particles bend less than those of fast moving less massive particles. Since all of this mass analysis occurs while the particles are traveling through space, it’s important that they not collide with any gas particles inside the mass spectrometer. That’s why the mass spectrometer must be evacuated before use.

How does an electric eel produce an electric charge? I know that it can produce up to 600 volts, but what does 600 volts mean without knowing the amount of current?

The eel produces this voltage by rearranging ions in specialized muscle cells called electroplaques. While I’m not an expert in this, I suppose that they use energy derived from food to pump ions through the cell membranes of these electroplaques in order to create charge imbalances between the two surfaces of those cells. By stacking hundreds or thousands of electroplaques in series, they succeed in separating positive and negative charges to great distances on their bodies and thus produce voltage drops in excess of 600 V.

You’re correct that current is an important issue here, since even household static electricity can separate enough positive charge from negative charge to reach thousands of volts. However, static electricity can reach very high voltages because there is no current flow to deplete the separated charge. In the case of an electric eel in water, the water conducts current well enough that the eel must continue to separate charge to maintain the 600-volt potential difference between its ends. I’m not sure how much current flows through the fresh water in this situation, but I would guess that it’s at least 1 ampere and possibly more. That means that the eel is moving a considerable amount of charge each second and using in excess of 600 watts of power. If the eel were a salt-water fish, it wouldn’t be able to reach a 600-volt potential difference at all because salt water conducts current far to well and an enormous current would flow in that case.

How are tessellations used in roofing, tiles, and quilts?

Tessellation is the covering of a surface without gaps or overlaps using one or a small number of basic shapes. It’s a natural activity for roofers, tilers, and quilters, since those activities involve forming complete surfaces with a limited number of shapes. Since there are an infinite number of possible tessellations, people are always trying to create interesting new ones. You can find these in a tile catalog or a quilting guide. Tessellations appear in physics in the context of crystal structure, where surfaces and volumes must be filled completely with a few basic molecular arrangements. Quasicrystalline materials—materials with orientational order but no longer-range order—are a particularly interesting example of tessellation in physics.