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Q: Can a volcanic eruption blast rocks into outer space?

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Hydromancerx

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: Q: Can a volcanic eruption blast rocks into outer space?

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Can a volcanic eruption blast rocks into outer space?

Note this would be from Earth not another planet. Also how big would the eruption have to be?

JaneBennet

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:11 pm Post subject:

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It would have to hurl rocks with an initial velocity of over 40 000 kilometres per hour (the escape velocity of Earth) upwards into space. Do you think the Earth has sufficient potential energy locked up within its core to cause an eruption violent enough to send rocks hurtling away at such a speed?
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Zitterbewegung

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:22 am Post subject:

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Not from earth as the escape velocity is 11km/s so I'd say pretty much "No". For other objects in our solar system the answer is a definite "yes" for e.g. Io.
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BumFluff

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:09 am Post subject:

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The rock would also have to escape at a particular angle so it didn't bounce off the atmosphere. As a rock has no thrust and it's path would be curved due to gravity if it did reach escape velocity chances are it still couldn't escape.
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Ophiolite

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:13 am Post subject:

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BumFluff wrote:

The rock would also have to escape at a particular angle so it didn't bounce off the atmosphere.

This is an issue for incoming rocks, not outgoing rocks.
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BumFluff

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject:

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Ophiolite wrote:

BumFluff wrote:

The rock would also have to escape at a particular angle so it didn't bounce off the atmosphere.

This is an issue for incoming rocks, not outgoing rocks.

Ahhh

Haven't rea;ly looked into it too much myself but when was younger that was what
I was led to believe.
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Lynx_Fox

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 5:21 am Post subject:

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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Large volcanic eruptions in have been able to eject materials pretty far into the stratosphere but that's far short of escape velocity and mostly smaller particles.

Not sure if any detailed modeling has been done of mega-volcanoes like at Toba some 70 thousand year ago for whether the explosion propelled rocks into orbit. I doubt anything could leave orbit; the combination of atmospheric friction and large gravity keep pretty much everything but the most highly energized hydrogen atoms at the top of the atmosphere within earth's gravity.

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