Book 12, Question 121
Why Do Labs Recreate Magma in Furnaces?
Labs recreate magma in furnaces because scientists cannot visit the inside of a real volcano. They melt rocks and test how the melt behaves. It is like running an eruption again and again.
More fun facts
- Labs melt real or man made rocks at the pressures and temperatures found deep underground.
- They also add water, carbon dioxide and other gases found in real magma.
- These experiments show how magma forms the rocks we see today.
- One lab furnace takes up to four hours to reach about 1,370 degrees Celsius (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit) to melt rock.
- An artist and a scientist teamed up to make their own lava to study it.
- The US Geological Survey has a Magma Dynamics Laboratory.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
What do labs add to make realistic magma?
Water, carbon dioxide and other gases found in real magma.