Okay, so I'm pretty sure I'm right about this, but I don't have the scientific vocabulary to explain why, and I'm hoping y'all will help me to find whatever thermodynamic principal I'm trying to describe - so here's the situation:

My parents have a lava lamp (not the one in pic related; that's mine). Now, according to them, the bulbous free-floating spheroids won't fully separate in true lava-lamp-like fashion unless the ceiling fan (app. 6' above it, and not any sort of industrial-grade equipment, but just your standard-ass, move-the-air-around-because-the-circulation-more-quickly-evaporates-the-moisture-on-our-skin ceiling fan) isn't on, because, as they claim, it cools the glass down to the point where it is unable to provide the necessary warmth to fully break up the gelatinous mixture.

Now, that's just crazy, right? I mean, it just seems like the direct application of heat from the bulb to the glass would overpower such a slight atmospheric disturbance as a consarned ceiling fan, because glass is a fantastic conductor of heat (I mean, after you get it hot, it retains that heat very well, sort of like when you play as Bowser in Mario Kart), and surely would fail to be overcome by a slight breeze on the outer surface, nest c'est pas?

Or, I could be wrong, as I so often have been on this board (and which honestly keeps me coming back)...

K thx bai