• Question: precisely how hot is it in a volcanoe ??

    Asked by brookmia2013 to Rob, Matt on 19 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      I’m not an expert but I’m going to take a guess (without googling it) and say hot. Very, very, very, hot. It’s hot enough to melt rocks down to a molten liquid so I’d say several thousand degrees Celsius.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Hi brookmia2013, the hottest volcanoes active on earth right now have magma inside which is about 1100 degrees. A good example is Hawaii – which is an enormous volcano (and the biggest on earth). However, each volcano is different, some have magma only about 500 or 600 degrees, it depends on what the rock is made of. Knowing what rocks come out as liquid gives us clues as to precisely how hot it is inside each volcano :). Think of it like cheese – brie goes runny if you leave it in the sun at a picnic but cheddar doesn’t – but they are both cheese! If either get a chance to be left in the sun then I’m clearly not at that picnic – I love cheese! The core of the planet is several thousand degrees, but it’s made of iron, and very heavy, so it stays there and never comes to the surface (not even close!)

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