HW_Volcano and the River of Lava

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Dec 6, 2023

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EES 0836 Volcano and the River of Lava Disasters: Geology vs. Hollywood Introduction In the movie Volcano (1997), a raging volcano has formed, raining a storm of deadly fire bombs and an endless river of white-hot lava upon the stunned city! As lava threatens the city, geologists need to work quickly in order to control the flow of lava on a downtown road. In the video clip, you can see they decide to trap the lava by creating a cul-de-sac of concrete and fire trucks, and then dousing the lava with several helicopters-full of water. We know that in Hollywood, everything works out in the end, but what if this was real life? Would it have worked? Learning Objectives ● Quantify the process of hydraulically cooling lava. (4, 5, b, c) ● Critically assess the portrayal of science in the movie Volcano (1997). (4, 5, b) Part 1: Watch the clip You can see the river of lava moving slowly down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles in the movie clip. Helicopters and firefighters work to cool the lava. 1. Do you think it’s plausible to cool a river of lava like this? Explain your reasoning. Yes, I do think that it’s plausible to cool a river of lava like this. Its plausible because in our lecture on mitigation, the professor explained how a popular method for to help stop the lava is hydraulic cooling. While I do think that this is plausible, I do not think the movie clip had enough water to do what they wanted it to do. It also depends on the speed of the lava, the transportation to get the water to the lava and the availability of materials.

EES 0836 Yes, I do think that it’s plausible to cool a river of lava like this. Its plausible because in our lecture on mitigation, the professor explained how a popular method for to help stop the lava is hydraulic cooling. While I do think that this is plausible, I do not think the movie clip had enough water to do what they wanted it to do. It also depends on the speed of the lava, the transportation to get the water to the lava and the availability of materials. Indeed, it's conceivable to cool a waterway of magma like this. Its conceivable in light of the fact that in our talk on moderation, the teacher made sense of how a well known technique for halting the magma is pressure driven cooling. While I in all actuality do feel that this is conceivable, I think the film cut needed more to do what they believed it should do. It additionally relies upon the speed of the magma, the transportation to get the water to the magma and the accessibility of materials. 2. How many helicopters were used to help cool the lava? Do you think this would be enough? Explain your reasoning. I'm looking at 18 maybe however this was truly difficult to figure out and it looked a little blurry. l I don't think this would be enough since it seemed as though it was simply unloading a little and there, not the huge measure of water you would have to chill off that much magma.

EES 0836 Part 2 : A look at the numbers In this section, the thermodynamics to quantify how much water it takes to cool lava enough to slow its flow has been done for you. Some information used to calculate this is known, but since this is all happening in a movie, there are several factors that are assumed or estimated. Most notably, the length, width, and depth of the lava flow are estimated using Google Earth’s measurement tools. Note: What we know based on the movie is that they are only trying to slow the movement of lava, not completely solidify it. All math is relative to this. In order to cool lava, emergency responders will need: 1 kg of water per 7.72 kg of lava Using rough road estimates and an average density of lava, the mass of magma in this scene is: 130,000,000 kg Questions 1. How much water is needed to slow the flow of lava? 16,839,378.2 kg of water is the amount need to stop the flow of lava. 2. If a helicopter can carry about 900 kg of water, how many helicopters are needed? 16,839,378/900=18711 helicopters will be needed. 3. How many days would it take if they were dumping one helicopter's worth of water per minute? 18,711 helicopters/ 1,440 minutes per day = 12.99375 days So 13 days As we can see in the movie, it’s not just helicopters. There are also several fire trucks helping to cool the lava. Again, with some assumptions being made, let’s factor that into the equation. 1 fire hose equals approximately 9.5 helicopters per hour 1. Let’s say there were ~20 fire hoses used per hour. How many helicopters would this account for? 20 x 9.5= 190 helicopters.

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EES 0836 2. How many days would it take if they were using this many hoses? 20 days I think.

EES 0836 3. Based on what you saw in the film, and the results of your calculation, would the lava chilling, as it is shown in the film, be successful? Part 3 : The real world There is often some grain of truth behind Hollywood exaggeration. In this case, stopping a lava flow by using water chilling was a method successfully used in Iceland in the early 1970’s. Read this: The Little Icelandic Town that Survived an Epic Lava Flow Watch this: 1973 Iceland Volcanic Eruption 1. Based on what you saw in the Iceland film, identify 2 significant differences between the scenario in the movie “Volcano” and in the real-life scenario in Iceland on which it was based. Explain your reasoning fo r both of these differences. (1 paragraph)

HW_Volcano and the River of Lava

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