Heat and Temperature (FK 3.3)_01
The picture shows lava coming out of a volcano. Do you know what lava is and where it comes from? The interior of Earth is very hot. It’s hot enough to melt rock. Yikes!
Melted rock is called magma. When it reaches the surface, we call it lava. It is hard to imagine how hot it must be. So how hot is the lava coming from a volcano?
You could say it is really, really hot. What does it mean to be really hot?
Is that the same as being hot, like on a summer day? Of course not. Lava is much hotter than a hot day. How can you make the difference clearer to others you might talk to? Is there a way to be more exact?
Scientists use a special term. This term is temperature. You have probably heard the term before. The term temperature is the measure of how hot or cold a substance is. How hot is the lava coming out of a volcano? The lava in the picture is over 1,000 degrees Celsius. That is about four times hotter than your oven at home.