Science Experiments | Volcanoes - Introduction

Introduction

On August 24, in 79 A.D., the citizens of Pompeii, in what is now Italy, woke up to a warm, sunny day. Some probably went to sit outside their beautiful villas to sit and admire the fruit trees, ornamental wall paintings, and statues in their enclosed gardens. Many of the villas overlooked the sparkling Bay of Naples. Businesses were opening and some were already bustling with activity. But life in Pompeii ended abruptly that morning when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted. Pompeii and the neighboring town of Herculaneum were destroyed. More than 2,000 people were suffocated by the gas and ash that spewed from Vesuvius and covered Pompeii or by the lavaMolten rock that occurs at the surface of Earth, usually through volcanic eruptions. flow of molten rock that leveled Herculaneum. Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian, saw the terrible event from the nearby town of Miseneum and wrote the first written, eyewitness account of a volcano's eruption.

Today Vesuvius is still an active volcanoA conical mountain or dome of lava, ash, and cinders that forms around a vent leading to molten rock deep within Earth., a conical or domelike mountain of lava, ash, and cinders that forms around a vent leading to molten rock deep within Earth. When volcanoes erupt, they literally blow their top, ejecting tons of rock and debris into the air, as well as sending clouds of toxic gases and steam and rivers of lava down the sides of the mountain.