Nova Volcano Video Response

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NOVA: Volcanoes Volcanoes are landforms where molten rock erupts through the surface of the planet. Think of them as pimples on the face of the earth. Today, there are over 1,500 active volcanoes on earth’s surface. Volcanoes cause serious hazards to not only people, but the environment and the nature around us as well. If an eruption were to occur, a number of life-changing things would happen. Lava flow would burn everything in its path. Ash falls will cause suffocation; killing many. Along with the death of a good amount of people, the ash would block the sun causing us to experience massive climate changes, but not just for us; The whole world would experience it as well. Science is showing that the potential for an eruption of some of the earth’s biggest and deadliest volcanoes is very real and imminent. In order to understand why volcanoes are deadly, one must know what causes volcanoes to erupt. Deep down in the earth’s crust or mantle there is melting occurring. This heat is coming from the earth’s core and the constantly moving materials within the earth. When parts of the mantle or crust melt, magma is formed. Within these magma chambers, gases in the chambers are causing an increase in pressure. As the pressure gets higher, the magma moves up. It moves up into the “throat” or the volcano, and thus causing an eruption. During some eruptions, you can even see lightning due to ash particles that cause electric sparks. Weeks before the infamous volcano Vesuvius erupted, earthquakes were felt throughout the same city of Pompeii. The town’s citizens regarded this as nothing but the gods causes tiny shifts in the ground below them. Parents sent their boy to gladiator academies, and women spent the morning at home with the family. At 10 am, the eruption began. Ash toppled over the helpless Pompeian people, killing everything and everyone in its path.

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