• Question: How hot is a volcano?

    Asked by sahilq to Kate, Joe, Juan on 10 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by armaann, mohamede.
    • Photo: Kate Salmon

      Kate Salmon answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      This is a good question @sahilq!

      Basically, it depends on the volcano. Did you know you can have different types of volcanoes? Some are active (like Etna in Sicily), whereas some are dormant or “sleeping” (like Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa) and some are extinct (like Vesuvius in Italy).

      The active volcanoes also erupt at different temperatures because they are made up of different kinds of rock which melt at different temperatures. So depending on the rock, the temperature of the lava which comes out can vary between ~700-1200 degrees Celsius! You would not want to get caught in that…

      I know one of my friends went on holiday to Chile and walked up a dormant volcano there and managed to fry an egg on the rocks because they were still so hot!

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