Volcanoes help form new land masses and can be found all over the world, including Antarctica – but Janszen wants to know what makes a volcano erupt? In this week’s Ask A DOer Dr. Richard will travel into the different layers of the Earth to explain how volcanoes erupt and where the lava that you see comes from.
Terms You’ve Learned:
- Volcano - A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust where hot gases and melted rock from deep within Earth find their way up to the surface.
- Magma – hot molten rock that may flow slowly out of a volcanic fissure, or crack, in the ground, or it may explode suddenly into the air during a volcanic eruption. When this melted rock comes to the surface, it's called lava!
- Inner Core – Inner most part of the Earth, made of solid iron
- Outer Core – Layer of liquid iron found just outside the inner core
- Mantle – Layer of rock between the crust and outer core that makes up most of the Earth’s volume.
- Crust – The outer most layer of the Earth.
Is there a question your kids want as a DOer? Send your kids' questions to feedback@thedoseum.org for a chance to be featured in our Ask A DOer Series every Friday at Noon! Be sure to include their name and age, video submissions are encouraged.
