Vicious Volcanoes

Volcanoes are mountains which have an opening, or rupture, which allows magma and other gases to escape out from within the earth. Volcanoes form when the plates that make up the earth's crust move. The friction between the plates create enough energy to melt the rock anc form a volcano. A volcano eruption occurs when magma, from the earth's mantle pushes its way out of the opening in the earths crust. When the magma is thin, it creates a lava flow which is not a huge explosing. However, when the lava is thick, pressure builds up inside the volcanoeo and erupts in a forceful and violent way. This can be extremely destructive. The earth's largest volcano is Moana Loa, down in Hawaii. If this volcanoe is measured from the ocean floor, it is larger than Mount Everest. The volcano, Mauna Loa, is actually what inspired me to post this blog. Over spring break, my family and I went down to Hawaii for vacation. There, we went to see volcanoes and I saw Mauna Loa from a distance. This inspired me to learn about how volcanoes work. I'll post some pictures I took of Mauna Loa. We didn't see it erupt,but could see smake rising, and we also saw a little but of lava on the surface. Wealso saw several guysers near by. Geysers are springs which erupt extremelt hot water. The volcanic heat boils the water underneath and the presure causes the geyser to explode. ( If you've ever seen a kettle explode under pressure, it's probably similar :-) All in all volcanoes are very interesing and I still have a lot to learn. As I learn more, I will continue to add to this post.

Links I Used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-volcano.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq7u1lw7038