WEBVTT - Could You Outrun a Volcano?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hi, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb Here. It's a familiar cinematic situation. A

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<v Speaker 1>daring scientist arrives in town to study the local volcano,

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<v Speaker 1>which has been dormant for centuries but now seems dangerously

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<v Speaker 1>close to erupting. Despite the dire warnings of everyone around him,

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<v Speaker 1>the intrepid volcanologist, perhaps with a trusty and attractive assistant

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<v Speaker 1>in tow, insists on scaling the mountain to more closely

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<v Speaker 1>examine its condition. But just as the pair arrives at

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<v Speaker 1>the gaping crater, it blows, sending them running or possibly jeeping,

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<v Speaker 1>hand in hand down the slope, barely staying ahead of

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<v Speaker 1>the raging river of hot lava. Seeing any number of

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<v Speaker 1>these exhilarating scenes might leave you wondering what would happen

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<v Speaker 1>if I suddenly needed to escape from an erupting volcano.

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<v Speaker 1>Could I outrun the lava and make it to safety? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>technically yes, If lava were all you had to deal with,

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<v Speaker 1>ball scrambling down the side of a fiery mountain, you

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<v Speaker 1>might be in the clear. Most lava flows, especially those

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<v Speaker 1>from shield volcanoes, the less explosive type are pretty sluggish.

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<v Speaker 1>As long as the lava doesn't find its way into

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<v Speaker 1>a tube or shoot shaped valley, it will probably move

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<v Speaker 1>slower than a mile per hour. For example, the lava

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<v Speaker 1>flow from the Mauna Lower eruption of nineteen fifty was

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<v Speaker 1>clocked at six miles per hour. That's nine kilometers per hour.

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<v Speaker 1>You probably wouldn't have any trouble scurrying away from that.

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<v Speaker 1>There have been examples of fast moving lava, but there

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<v Speaker 1>are few and far between, like when the Democratic Republic

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<v Speaker 1>of Congo's mountainear A Congo erupted in nineteen seventy seven.

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<v Speaker 1>Its lava was measured going forty miles per hour that's

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<v Speaker 1>sixty four kilometers per hour, and at least two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>people lost their lives. The unfortunate truth, though, is that

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<v Speaker 1>lava will be the least of your worries if you're

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<v Speaker 1>close enough to an erupting volcano that you're thinking about

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<v Speaker 1>running for your life. Contrary to what we might see

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<v Speaker 1>in the movies, the dangers of a volcanic eruption are

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<v Speaker 1>not confined to burning hot lava. Even if you could

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<v Speaker 1>stay ahead of the lava, you'd never survived the pyroclastic

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<v Speaker 1>flow that's the accompanying burning hot, fast move in cloud

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<v Speaker 1>of ash, rock, gas, and debris. Pyroclastic flows are the

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<v Speaker 1>worst when they come from the more dramatically explosive composite volcanoes,

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<v Speaker 1>but they generally move at speeds greater than sixty miles

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<v Speaker 1>per hour a k a nine kilometers per hour and

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<v Speaker 1>reach temperatures between about two hundred and seven hundred degrees

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<v Speaker 1>celsius that's around four hundred dred degrees fahrenheit. By many estimates,

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<v Speaker 1>the pyroclastic flow from the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius

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<v Speaker 1>in seventy nine reached four hundred and fifty miles per

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<v Speaker 1>hour or seven hundred kilometers per hour. There's obviously no

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<v Speaker 1>way anyone's out running that. And if the pyroclastic flow

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<v Speaker 1>happens to melt snow or a glacier, this creates a

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<v Speaker 1>lahar and extra deadly concrete thick mud slide slash avalanche combo.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you one day find yourself flirting with danger

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<v Speaker 1>on the rim of an erupting volcano, we hate to

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<v Speaker 1>say it, but your toast. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Alison Cooper and produced by Tristan McNeil. For more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other myth busting topics, visit our

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<v Speaker 1>home planet as stuff works dot com