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Volcanoes and Combustion
Name: Kellie H>
Status: Educator
Age: 6-8
Location: California
Country: United States
Date: January 23, 2005
Question:
If fire needs oxygen to burn, how is it that there are
volcanoes in space when space is a vacuum, and fire can not exist in space?
Replies:
Volcanoes are not a result of burning. They are a result of melting. Rock
is heated as a result of such things as plate tectonics or other heat sources
within the planet. If there were no oxygen on Earth, we would still have
volcanoes. In fact, many scientists believe that part of the reason we have
an atmosphere is that there was "out gassing" from early volcanoes on our
planet.
Pat Rowe
Kellie,
The molten lava from volcanoes is not fire. The lava is
hot because, just as on Earth, there is tremendous heat
towards the center of the planet, where the lava
originates from. The pressure of the weight of the planet
above the core creates great amounts of heat, making the
rock molten. This becomes what we call lava when it comes
up through a crack in the planet's outer rock layers, and
sometimes erupts out of volcanoes So, no oxygen is
required to have lava and volcanoes
David R. Cook
Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry Section
Environmental Research Division
Argonne National Laboratory
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Update: June 2012
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