By Amber Caldwell and Michelle Loomis Volcanoes By Amber Caldwell and Michelle Loomis

Annie and Jack go on yet another adventure, this time to Pompeii Annie and Jack go on yet another adventure, this time to Pompeii. The magic tree house sends them to 79AD, the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Annie and Jack need to locate the lost story, “Vir Fortissimus In Mundo”. To help them in their journy they have a book about Pompeii that gives them important information about the city. While there they notice all the streams dried up, the birds have flown away, they have not seen any rats, and the ground is shaking and speaking. Annie and Jack continue their journey to find out why. Jack reads that there was an eruption of Mount Vesuvious in 79 AD. They then realize that the eruption is about to happen. They began to run and ended up back at the tree house before the eruption could hit them.

Key Parts! “When a volcano erupts, hot melted rock called “magma” is pushed to the surface of the earth. Once it gets outside the volcano, it’s called “lava.” “There was no running lava from Mount Vesuvius. The magma from the volcano cooled so fast that it froze into small grayish white rocks called pumice.”

Have you ever wondered how temperature affects the movement of magma?

Why did Pompeii’s Magma Not Turn Into Lava? Materials: Tap Water Butter 2 Bowls One large plastic One small glass Stop Watch Ability to use a microwave

One way to do the experiment: Lets find out what happens when you heat the butter: Process: Boil the water Put the butter in the glass bowl Put the boiling water in the plastic bowl Waited and observed for 3 minutes

Observations: After 3 minutes most of the butter was melted The butter moved quickly when the glass bowl was moved. Conclusion: As the butter is heated it became thinner and moved faster. Therefore, as magma is heated it becomes a liquid and moves up the volcano quicker.

Another way to do the experiment: Lets find out what happens when you use warm tap water Process: Fill the plastic bowl with warm tap water. Put the butter in the glass bowl Waited and observed for 3 minutes

Observations: After 1 minute the butter began to melt. At three minutes it was halfway melted. The butter moved quickly after it had been warmed Conclusions: As the butter heats up it becomes a liquid and flows faster. Therefore, as magma heats up it forms liquid properties and begins to flow.

Another way to do the experiment: Lets find out what happens when you use cold tap water with ice. Process: Fill the plastic bowl with cold tap water. Add a few ice cubes. Put the butter in the glass bowl Wait and observe for 3 minutes

Observations: The butter stayed as a solid The butter felt colder Conclusions: The colder the water you use the colder the butter becomes. Therefore, if the magma is cold it does not change into a liquid and therefore no liquid lava is formed.

This is what Mount Vesuvius’s eruption is believed to have looked like. Our reasoning for this, based on our experiment, is that the magma was not hot enough to form lava. Therefore, the magma came out as a solid, rather than a liquid.