Want to make a volcanic eruption at home but don’t have baking soda, vinegar, or paper mache?
Then check out
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/interactive/interactive.html
The Discovery Channel online has created an interactive website where visitors can not only use as a tool to broaden their geographic knowledge about the inner workings and facts of various types of volcanoes but, more excitingly, users can create and their own volcanoes!
The fascinating and fun aspect of this site is that when you first enter the page you are directed to 4 links. The first three links include the Overview, covering Global Perspective, Volcano Types, and Inside a Volcano. The fourth link is, in my opinion, the most fun and insightful. This link will direct you to a Virtual Volcano where you, as a volcano explorer, can build your own volcano and then watch its impacts as it erupts. To build your volcano, you decide the viscosity of the magma and the extent of gas/pressure you want to launch it. Once you’ve set your conditions, watch your virtual volcano erupt!
The video first presents what kind of volcano you’ve created and then goes through all the effects that emerge as the volcano erupts. Furthermore, it labels the key aspects of the eruption and the user can also click on the aspects’ respective links to learn more about them and their effects.
For student geographers, this is a great site to discover more details about volcanoes from its creation, eruption, and after effects. Even better, it’s a lot of fun!
Building my own volcano was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about volcanos too. Too bad I didn’t visit this site before the quiz on Wednesday. Great website.
This website is great! I am a huge of fan of interactive websites, particularly sites with models and simulations.. this site was really helpful in understanding how the viscosity and amount of gas impacts the eruption process. Rather than reading in a textbook, viewing volcanic activity based on my personal input allowed me to more fully immerse myself in the concepts of volcanism.
I definitely had fun creating my own volcano. I tried 3 times before I could get the most explosive resembling the Mt. St. Helens Volcano. I wish I could have had this to play with before our quiz!
This is a great website! Not only am I having fun, but also learning at the same time. Having always been more of a visual learning, this little activity has definitely enhanced my understanding of volcano.
This is such a great tool. It really helps you understand how volcanoes work. Features like this really help to get people engaged in learning about what would otherwise be strictly educational subjects. Great Job.
This is a pretty cool tool to help you learn more about volcanoes, especially to understand how everything is related and affects the style of volcano that you create. With every little bit that I changed the viscosity and gas, I got a new volcano, which was fun to watch! Thanks for posting this!