What Is Lava?

The Secret Molten Underworld

Deep entirely beneath the Earth's solid, cool, and rocky outer crust lies a massive, chaotic, highly pressurized layer confidently called the mantle. The extreme, unfathomable intense heat generated completely by the Earth's solid inner core is so utterly powerful that it easily melts heavy, solid rock completely down into a thick, glowing, incredibly pressurized liquid called Magma.

Geologists heavily insist it is incredibly important to properly note the strict vocabulary: while this massive ocean of liquid rock is securely trapped deep underground, it is rigidly called magma. The exact, precise second that the boiling liquid rock aggressively breaches the Earth's surface and violently erupts out of a massive volcano directly into the open air, it permanently legally changes its name specifically to Lava.

The Liquid Glass

Freshly erupted lava is incredibly heavy, surprisingly dense, and completely unfathomably hot, raging furiously at temperatures hovering entirely between 1,300°F and 2,200°F (700°C to 1,200°C).

Depending heavily on its exact complex chemical makeup (specifically, exactly how much sticky silica glass it biologically contains), highly pressurized lava can violently and aggressively explode incredibly high into massive dark ash clouds, or simply ooze slowly and beautifully down the side of a steep mountain exactly like thick, intensely boiling syrup.

Because the heavy liquid rock is so impossibly hot, it violently safely releases immense amounts of raw heat energy entirely in the bright form of glowing red and brilliant orange visible light (blackbody radiation). As it heavily crawls across the cool ground, it quickly cools, immediately hardens, and remarkably turns straight back into brand new, solid rock.