Volcanoes: Fire Mountains for Tiny Explorers

Nova: Buckle up, Explorers.

Cosmo: Brains in!

Nova: Wheels up!

Nova & Cosmo: Brain Bus, let's GO!

Nova: You're on The Brain Bus.

Nova: I'm Nova, your driver.

Nova: And my robot co-pilot Cosmo waved us off just now.

Nova: Today we're going somewhere really, really amazing.

Nova: Are you ready, Explorers?

Nova: We're going to a mountain that sneezes.

Nova: A mountain that SNEEZES hot, melty rock!

Nova: Can you believe that?

Nova: That's a volcano.

Nova: And that's where we're headed today.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Come in close.

Nova: Let me tell you all about volcanoes.

Nova: The ground under your feet — the ground under our car right now — is like a big, hard shell.

Nova: A shell, like a cookie.

Nova: Can you say COOKIE SHELL?

Nova: That's it! Cookie shell!

Nova: And underneath that hard cookie shell?

Nova: The rock is hot. So, so, SO hot.

Nova: It gets so hot it goes squishy.

Nova: It melts. It turns runny and glowy.

Nova: Like when you leave ice cream in the sun and it goes all drippy.

Nova: That hot, runny, melted rock is called MAGMA.

Nova: Can you say MAGMA?

Nova: Magma. Ooh, that's a good word.

Nova: Now. That hot squishy magma is deep underground.

Nova: And it wants to go somewhere.

Nova: It pushes and pushes and pushes.

Nova: Like when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste.

Nova: The paste has to come out somewhere, right?

Nova: Well — the magma finds a way up.

Nova: Up through the rock.

Nova: Up, up, up — all the way to the top of the mountain.

Nova: And then...

Nova: WHOOSH! Out it comes!

Nova: When it bursts out of the top, we call it LAVA.

Nova: Can you say LAVA?

Nova: LAVA! Yes!

Nova: And lava is so hot it glows.

Nova: Orange and yellow, like a big fire.

Nova: It moves slowly. Very, very slowly.

Nova: Slow like honey dripping off a spoon.

Nova: It creeps along the ground.

Nova: And then — when it cools down — it goes hard.

Nova: It turns into solid black rock.

Nova: Rock you could hold in your hand.

Nova: That's how new land is made, Explorers.

Nova: Right here on Earth, volcanoes are building things all the time.

Nova: In the wide blue ocean — deep, deep under the water — there are volcanoes too.

Nova: They erupt. And the lava piles up. And up. And UP.

Nova: Until one day — it pokes out of the sea.

Nova: A brand new island. Born from fire.

Nova: Now. I want to tell you a very special story.

Nova: This story comes to us from the Native Hawaiian people of Hawaiʻi.

Nova: It has been told for generations — and Hawaiian families hold it dear today.

Nova: There is a goddess called Pele.

Nova: Her name is PEH-leh.

Nova: Can you say PELE?

Nova: Pele.

Nova: Pele is the goddess of volcanoes.

Nova: She went looking for a home.

Nova: She travelled far, far across the big blue ocean.

Nova: She tried digging a fire-pit on one island. But the water came in.

Nova: She tried another island. The water came in again.

Nova: She kept going. She kept looking.

Nova: Until she found the perfect place.

Nova: A volcano called Kīlauea. KEE-lau-AY-uh.

Nova: And there she made her home.

Nova: Right inside the volcano.

Nova: When Kīlauea glows and rumbles, Hawaiian families say Pele is working.

Nova: She is building new land.

Nova: Every piece of lava that cools into rock — that rock is a gift from Pele.

Nova: Building the islands. Bit by bit. For ever and ever.

Nova: Isn't that a beautiful story?

Nova: Okay Explorers — quiz time!

Nova: I'm going to ask you some questions about volcanoes.

Nova: Do your best thinking. That's all we need.

Nova: Question one. True or false — lava is hot.

Nova: TRUE! Lava is very, very hot.

Nova: So hot it was melted rock underground before it ever came out.

Nova: Good thinking, Explorers.

Nova: Question two. True or false — volcanoes are made of ice cream.

Nova: Ooh — that would be delicious. But FALSE!

Nova: Volcanoes are made of rock.

Nova: Though... the rock inside does get so hot it goes all runny and drippy.

Nova: Like ice cream left out in the sun!

Nova: Question three. What comes out of a volcano? Is it... a) bubbles, b) hot melted rock, or c) snow?

Nova: It's B — hot melted rock!

Nova: That hot rock was hiding underground.

Nova: And the volcano gave it a way out — all the way up to the sky.

Nova: Well done, Explorers. Every single one of you did something amazing just now.

Nova: You THOUGHT. And thinking is the best thing a brain can do.

Nova: Here come some volcano fun facts. Are you ready?

Nova: Fun fact one. Volcanoes rumble before they erupt.

Nova: Like a tummy that's hungry.

Nova: GRRRUMBLE.

Nova: Fun fact two. There are volcanoes on other planets.

Nova: Not just on Earth.

Nova: Other planets have fire mountains too!

Nova: Fun fact three. Some black sand beaches — the sand used to be lava.

Nova: Hot, glowing lava — that cooled down into tiny black grains.

Nova: And now you can wiggle your toes in it.

Nova: Okay Explorers, this one is for YOUR body.

Nova: Put your hands flat on your tummy.

Nova: Can you feel your tummy?

Nova: Now — take a big breath IN.

Nova: Fill your tummy up. Like a volcano filling with hot rock.

Nova: Puff it out. Bigger. Biiiigger.

Nova: Now let it out — slow.

Nova: "Whooooooosh."

Nova: That's your volcano erupting.

Nova: Do it two more times. Big breath in...

Nova: ...and whoooooosh.

Nova: One more. Big breath...

Nova: ...whoooooosh.

Nova: Beautiful.

Nova: Here's your wondering question, Explorers.

Nova: If YOU were a volcano — would you be a loud surprise one?

Nova: Or a slow, sleepy one?

Nova: Have a think about that.

Nova: You know what, Explorers?

Nova: Volcanoes aren't scary. Not really.

Nova: They're just... doing what they have to do.

Nova: Hot stuff under the ground needs somewhere to go.

Nova: So it pushes up. And out.

Nova: That's it. That's all a volcano is.

Nova: The Earth breathes. Just like you did.

Nova: And when that hot rock pours out and cools down — it becomes the ground someone walks on.

Nova: It becomes an island in the ocean.

Nova: It becomes a beach where a child wiggles their toes in black sand.

Nova: The oldest rocks on Earth were once lava. Every one of them.

Nova: The ground beneath us has been fire.

Nova: Next time on The Brain Bus — we're going somewhere that shakes and wiggles and jiggles.

Nova: Something underground is on the move again.

Nova: I wonder what it could be.

Nova: Stay curious, stay clever, and keep that brain working!

Nova: Until the next stop, Explorers...

Cosmo: ...keep wondering.