The Bad Astronomer does the math
The Bad Astronomer does the math
How much energy does it take to do this? I’ll spare you the math (but if it takes 10 seconds to reach the peak, the initial velocity must be 100 meters per second, and then use that to get kinetic energy which is ½ x mass x velocity^2) I get that it takes 5,000 Joules per kilogram of material to launch it up that high. But what’s that in more graspable terms?
Assuming a fountain pours out 100 tons of material per second (I’m guessing here but that jibes with other lava fountains), that means the volcano is erupting with the energy of about 120 kilograms of TNT detonating per second.
https://badastronomy.substack.com/p/ban-361-the-sheer-power-of-an-erupting