SEP 24, 2015

Here's What Happens When You Pour Molten Lava Onto a Block of Ice

WRITTEN BY: Anthony Bouchard


When you pour something incredibly hot onto something incredibly cold, like, say, molten lava atop a block of ice, you would expect the huge change in temperature to cause something crazy to happen, like an explosion. Some might even think that the molten lava would melt right through the ice.

Well, actually, neither happen. Instead, the molten lava vaporizes the ice into a steam so fast that it causes bubbles in the surface of the lava. The appearance of the bubbles is not only fascinating, but their existence has a scientific reasoning behind it.

Moreover, because it's trapping steam, the molten lava never actually melts through the ice, and instead, it floats to the other side of the ice by hovering atop the super-heated steam; it's kind of like what a hot air balloon does to stay in flight using hot air.

The video shows you the awesome result, and even shows you how molten lava reacts to being pours directly into water.