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When Lava Meets Water it Makes Stone Bubbles

What happens when you pour lava directly into water? There is only one way to find out — science!

In the above video from National Geographic, scientists used a “lava oven” to turn 800 pounds of basalt rock into (turn on your best Dr. Evil voice) liquid hot magma (technically lava), by heating the rock to between 2,050 and 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the same temperature as lava found in nature, so this is the real deal.

Before we get to the final, awesome results of this little experiment, I have to point out that liquid rock looks…this is embarrassing…delicious. Like, if that was what a cheese fondue looked like that’s all I’d ever eat. That beautiful orange glow, the cascading flow, it just looks really tasty even though I know it is instant death. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from eating bacon.

As for the actual meeting of liquid rock and liquid water, the results are incredible. During the process it looks like a colony of monstrous alien babies is being born, but by the end there is a beautiful, stone bubble creation, one that shows how “rapidly heat can be transferred.” It becomes an expression of the power of energy, one that is full of life even after it has cooled down.

There’s more to this test than just doing something cool though, as they explain the destruction that would occur by water “flash-boiled by magma.”

What did you think this magma-meets-water creation looked like? Share your hot takes with us in the comments below.

Image: National Geographic/YouTube

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