• Question: what is the hottest temperature recorded for lava?

    Asked by anon-276412 on 13 Jan 2021.
    • Photo: Sophie Gill

      Sophie Gill answered on 13 Jan 2021:

      Hi @jacob05, I think lava temperatures normally range somewhere between 800 and 1200 degrees celsius, so probably approximately 1200 degrees celsius is the hottest lava you could find!

    • Photo: William Smith

      William Smith answered on 13 Jan 2021:

      Following on from @Sophie’s answer – it’s worth thinking about how hot this really is. In our daily lives we usually experience temperatures between say -5 (a very cold winter day in the UK) and 40 degrees celsius (a very hot bath). The minimum temperature recorded on Earth is -90 and the hottest +70. You might have some idea of what 100 degrees feels like if you taken a sip of black tea before it’s cooled! The oven in your kitchen probably goes up to about 260 degrees. So 1200 degrees for something that can occur naturally on Earth is crazy hot!

    • Photo: Graham Shields

      Graham Shields answered on 13 Jan 2021:

      Lavas with high amounts of the element silicon are the coolest and can erupt at temperatures of only 800 degrees. Lavas with high amounts of magnesium like on Hawai’i are hotter and can be as hot as 1250 degrees! I have read that the hottest lavas in the solar system are on Io, one of Jupiter’s Moons and billions of years ago on Earth lavas with lots of magnesium could be even hotter and up to 1650 degree celsius

    • Photo: Savanna van Mesdag

      Savanna van Mesdag answered on 13 Jan 2021:

      I’m not sure! I suspect a volcanologist might be able to answer this question. 🙂

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