When do Volcanoes erupt

When red-hot magma spills from the Earth’s crust, this is called an eruption. During an eruption, clouds of choking ash and poisonous gas can tumble down the mountain or be flung high into the air. It is certainly not safe to be near an erupting volcano.

Luckily, most volcanoes do not erupt all the time. The inside of the earth is always moving and magma keeps bubbling up to the thin crust, but it is not usually strong enough to break through. If the magma keeps pushing at the surface where there is a weak spot in the Earth’s crust, it will be able to burst through.

What happens when volcanoes erupt
Volcanoes vary a great deal in their destructive power. Some volcanoes explode violently, destroying everything in a mile radius within minutes, while other volcanoes seep out lava so slowly that you can safely walk all around them. The severity of he eruption depends mostly on the composition of the magma.

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