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30
May
2018
For weeks, I’ve watched the pyrotechnics on television of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. Fountains of lava squirting up to 300 feet into the air – the length of a football field set on end.
Generally, I gather, reddish-coloured lava is about 900 degrees Celsius (about 1,600 Fahrenheit). Orange is hotter, about 1100 C. Yellow goes up to 1250 C.
And it’s even hotter underground. The magma – the name for lava before it erupts to the surface -- is under pressure, which raises its melting point. When the lava is released from that pressure as it surfaces, it bubbles like champagne. It is actually boiling.
This is rock we’re talking about, folks. Rock. The stuff mountains are made of.
If you tried to heat rock to those temperatures on your kitchen range, most of your range would melt before the rock did!
Categories: Soft Edges
Tags: Kilauea, Hawaii, volcano, Puna Power Plant