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15th Jun 2008

Fire and Mud - The Science of Volcanoes


Chris Smith

Get Red Hot and Dirty with the Naked Scientists as we explore the science of volcanoes. We discover how the heat from hot rocks can be used to work out what gases are emerging, how likely a volcano is to erupt and whether it will go with a bang or a whimper. We also hear how hot runny rock can shatter under pressure to trigger an earthquake, and dip into the cooler, dirtier world of mud Volcanoes, like Lusi, which is currently pouring millions of gallons of mud onto the island of Java. Plus, we find out how a small date plant made history by being the oldest seed ever to germinate, why the paper of the future could be as tough as iron, and, in Kitchen Science, Ben and Dave provoke an eruption of their own!

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Interviews

2000 year old seedling

Dr Sarah Sallon, from the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Centre, Israel.

Looking into a volcano

Dr Marie Edmonds

Quakes from within the magma

Professor Peter Sammonds, UCL

Mud volcanoes

Prof Richard Davies

Kitchen Science

 

Flour Volcano


Build a model of some of the largest volcanoes on the planet, using some flour and a balloon.

Question of the Week

Can Cooking Cut Calories?

Recently a friend of mine was telling me about a pizza that he burned to the point of becoming a charred husk ten times smaller than the original. At that point I realised that this pizza had now become a very low-calorie alternative to its former self. My question is whether all types of cooking result in loss of calories as well?


What is the warmest it has ever gotten on earth ?...
- Matthew - 15th Jun 08

Is the worst snake's venom more poisonous than the worst spider's venom ???...
- Matthew - 15th Jun 08
Whole Thread | Post Reply

Science News

Nano-paper stronger than cast iron

Researchers based in Sweden have created paper that can withstand more force before breaking than cast iron. The paper isn't made from anything unusual; like all paper, it consists mostly of cellulose...

Cancers control cells elsewhere in the body

Scientists have found that tumours can produce factors that encourage the growth of stray cancer cells lurking elsewhere around the body. Writing in this month's edition of the journal Cell, MIT resea...

Tree leaves keep it cool

When they're at work photosynthesising, tree leaves stay at the same temperature whether the air outside is freezing cold or boiling hot, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania pub...
 

Dated horticulture - scientists grow 2000 year old seed

Carbon dating has confirmed that scientists have broken the record for growing the world's oldest seed - a date dating from 2000 years ago. In the 1960s archaeologists excavated the fortress of Masad...

Questions

What happens in scientific terms in a reaction between acid rain and limestone?


Why do glasses, cups and plates have a ridge around the base? Why not have a flat bottom?


How much pollution does a volcano produce? I’ve heard that a volcanoes spew out as much pollution as all the cars that have ever been put on Earth combined but how much pollution does a volcano produce when it erupts?


Is there any way to stop or alter an eruption once it’s got going?


Can we harness volcanoes to modify the environment?


Why don’t you stick a cork in a volcano? Would that make it erupt elsewhere?


I found a crystal on a beach that looks like glass where it’s broken but it looks like a mineral on the outside. We can cut glass with it and it doesn’t affect the stone crystal. Can only a diamond cut glass?


The Earth’s core is made of heavy and dense metals, mostly iron, are the most dense metal at the centre of the core. In other words, if we were to drill down 6000km would we find enormous quantities of things like gold and uranium and osmium?


If the ice caps melt and the weight of all that water gets redistributed about the planet given that the planet’s just a ball of molten stuff underneath a relatively thin crust will the shape of the Earth change when all the ice goes?


Can you just give us a quick update on the situation with Yellowstone? What’s happening there?


How do you find water underground?


Can underground nuclear bombs and explosions result in shockwaves that might trigger off a volcano?


 

Will removing oil destabilise the Earth?




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