The word volcano actually comes from a little island off the coast of Sicily, near what is now Italy. This island is located in the Mediterranean sea. The people there once believed that this island, called Vulcano, was the chimney on the metal forge used by Vulcan, who was a blacksmith and one of the Roman gods.

Vulcan was supposed to make weapons for the god of war, who was called Mars, and thunderbolts for the king of the gods, who was called Jupiter. People thought that the dust, hot lava and heat coming out of the mountain on the island of Vulcano was from the god's forge.

The Romans were not the only ancient people to believe that volcanoes were made by the gods. In the island chain that is now Hawaii, people though that Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, made them erupt whenever she was angry at someone. Pele was supposed to be very beautiful, but it was also very easy to make her angry.

Of course, today we know that when volcanoes erupt, it is not because a god is angry or working, but because of forces inside the earth that can be measured and studied by scientists. Volcanoes are only mountains that work a little differently from most other kinds of mountains.

Most mountains are made through a slow process when the surface of the earth is lifted up or folded and crumpled. Volcanoes are not made this way. Instead, they are built up by accumulated lava, ash and other things that come out of the hotter parts of the earth. Most volcanoes are cone shaped or look like regular mountains, but they have a vent in the middle.

That vent, which is the hole in the middle of the volcano, is connected to pools of melted rock under the earth's surface. The volcano can mean the mountain, or just the opening where the melted rock and ash comes out. Some volcanoes are flatter than others, because they haven't built up as much rock around them. Other volcanoes are just cracks in the ground.

When a volcano erupts, melted rock is pushed out of it by pressurized gas. If the rock breaks through the earth, an eruption starts. Lava flows can be slow or fast, and some of them even fly into the air and explode! Bigger pieces of this lava puddle or fall down around the hole. Small pieces of rock and ash can be carried miles away on the wind, and when a volcano erupts, there is a lot of ash in the air.

Lava comes in many different kinds. Different volcanoes have their own kind of lava. Some is thick and stiff and other lava is thin and runny. Some volcanoes don't erupt with lava at all. They shoot out chunks of solid rock, instead.

There are volcanoes all over the world - about twenty to thirty erupt every year. Not all of them are very dangerous, though. People live near them all the time. Sometimes live volcanoes can kill many people, but this does not happen often.

The most active volcano in the world is Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Once, it erupted for a year and a half! One volcano near Italy erupts once every twenty minutes, and is very reliable. There are many kinds of volcanoes, and they are some of the most interesting features of our planet.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

One in a series of articles about Geography written for children.

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