What is Lava made of? | Volcanology 6?

Lava is like melted rock that flows from a volcano, just like how syrup flows from a bottle when you warm it up.

Lava is made of molten rock, which is rock that has been heated until it becomes liquid. Deep inside the Earth, there’s a lot of heat, so much that rocks start to melt. This melted rock is called magma when it's still underground. When a volcano erupts and magma comes out, it becomes lava.

Think about chocolate in a microwave. When you warm it up, it gets runny and starts to flow. Magma is like chocolate, hot and sticky. When it comes out of the Earth, it’s like syrup flowing from a bottle, that's lava!

Lava isn’t just melted rock, sometimes there are gases in it too, like bubbles in soda. These gases can make eruptions more explosive. And sometimes, little pieces of rock or glass come with the lava, like bits of gravel in a stream.

So when you see lava flowing, imagine it's like hot syrup from a volcano, full of melted rock and maybe even some bubbles!