Deep under your feet, rock gets hot enough to melt. Turn the page and see what happens when it comes up for air.
Melted rock that is still underground is called magma. The moment it breaks through the surface where you can see it, scientists call it lava. It is the same hot rock with two names, depending on which side of the ground it is on.
Volcanic ash is nothing like the soft gray ash in a fireplace. It is made of tiny pieces of rock, minerals and volcanic glass that were torn apart and flung into the sky. Every speck is hard and sharp, so it feels gritty between your fingers.
A tall pointy volcano like this one is called a composite volcano, or a stratovolcano. It builds its neat cone shape in layers, lava on top of ash on top of lava, one eruption at a time, over thousands of years.
When lava cools it hardens into black rock. Smooth ropy rock is called pahoehoe and rough chunky rock is called aa, and one single flow can make both kinds as different parts of it cool at different speeds.
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