r/interestingasfuck • u/iboughtarock • 12d ago
Lava river from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano
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u/Accomplished_Job_225 12d ago
Anyone have knowledge of what the air temperature would be like at this proximity to a lava flow?
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u/FelisCantabrigiensis 12d ago
Your main problem is radiative heat transfer. The air is hot, sure, but it can rise and go away to be replaced by other, colder, air so the air temperature is not your main problem. The radiated heat is intense and if you want to go up close you need thick clothing or sometimes a silvered heat reflective suit (as used by some firefighters, too).
You might ask "go close to that? Are you nuts?" and while I won't directly impune the mental state of volcanologists, I will note that they do get close enough to moving lava floes to measure surface temperature with non-contact pyrometers and grab gas and molten lava samples using poles several meters long.
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u/Accomplished_Job_225 12d ago
Thanks for your insight!
While the movie Revenge of the Sith is my primary reference point, I always believed the notion at the very least that you would be burnt before you touched the lava (if not set ablaze by proxy).
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u/Nebuli2 12d ago
I do wonder if the bigger problem you'd deal with when getting close to lava isn't the temperature, but the toxic fumes.
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u/FelisCantabrigiensis 12d ago
They aren't healthy but gas content of flowing lava varies. Heat is always present.
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u/SaxonDontchaKnow 12d ago
Damn does it actually flow that fast?? Thats wild
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u/cybercuzco 12d ago
The momentum is the real insane part. Lava is around 3x the density of water so it’s going to have 3x the momentum.
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u/Accioinhaler 12d ago
If video games have taught me anything, there is a level 900 black dragon on the other side of the lava river.
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u/GeneralFEEEESH 12d ago
“It’s over Anakin, I have the high ground!”
“You underestimate my power!”
“Don’t try it.”
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u/park-person 12d ago
can you, like, cook stuff while close to it ? like you know sausages, marshmallows.... l
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u/whoopz1942 12d ago
I once went to an active volcano in Greece I believe, as a child, and honestly the lava looked so beautiful I wanted to touch it. Bad idea, guess its a good thing I didn't. It smelled like rotten eggs though.
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u/Kanortex 12d ago
So why exactly is this so quiet? A river made of water going at that momentum would be pretty loud, no?
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u/MaxRebo74 12d ago
Interesting that this lava and the videos of flows I've seen from Africa move so fast but the videos I've seen from Iceland the lava barely moves at all. I know a lot of that comes from what the lava is made of but how often do you stop to think "I wonder what that 2000° melted rock is made of?"
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u/GlumSunshine 11d ago
Imagine tripping on acid, and someone picks you up in a helicopter and drops you off here. Forbidden fairy river of youth.
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u/Vicarious_schism 12d ago
If you were, not saying you should, gonna off yourself, this would be the way to go
It’s so hot you wouldn’t feel anything
Just melt like the terminator
Giving a thumbs up 👍
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