The Right (and Wrong) Way to Die When You Fall Into Lava

[Viva_La_Revolution]

By Erik Klemetti


This post is based on a question I was posed in my “Introduction to Rocks and Minerals” class. Now, mind you, it isn’t a serious question, but when I thought about how to answer it, I realized how completely wrong everybody has been about it. The revelation was so clear I half expected the planet to be destroyed to make way for a bypass. So, before that happens, I thought a blog post might be a great way to explain why.

I’ll start with the answer: Everyone is wrong about how people die when they fall into lava.


So, what was the question? This (slightly paraphrased): “In that scene from Return of the King when Gollum falls into the pit of lava, would he have really just sunk into the lava like that?”

At first, it seemed like an easy question. Well, not so much easy as obvious: yes. However, the more I thought about it, the more I though that pretty much every scene I’ve ever noticed where somebody falls into lava and dies has got to be wrong....
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/the-right-and-wrong-way-to-die-when-you-fall-into-lava/

[jberryhill]

1. Without looking, I'd guess that density (specific gravity) has a lot to do with it

No, you won't sink into molten rock.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. you should read the link

lots of the posters are geologists or earth scientists.. they're not in complete agreement of course, and the discussion is fascinating.

[Scuba]

3. I didn't see the movie, but suspect "burst into flames" is high in probability. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

4. I would hope they go into shock from the agony

and possibly die from it, their corpse floating away on the lava.

[saras]

5. There's real data - including pictures

...and so little need for random speculation.

OF COURSE you don't sink. The specific gravity of lava is WAY higher than water - you'll lay on top of it, basically. And some lava is really viscous, in which case even things like rocks that sink, sink very slowly.

You won't burst into flames, at least not at first. Too much water. Possibly after the steam goes away the fats will catch on fire.

It will NOT be painless, or fast. Smoke inhalation is what kills in most fires. On lava you won't die until you lose too much bodily fluids. So you will most likely lay there rolling around and screaming until all your skin comes off and your water boils away. Much fun.

[Orsino]

6. So to the above horrors...

...we can also add the kersplat as we hit the essentially unyielding lava. With luck, that would be a quick death if you're hitting from Gollum height.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

18. Just turn over and inhale the lava - it should make for a quicker end

[Warpy]

7. That annoyed the hell out of me, too

You'd have seen a blast of steam and then he'd have burst into flame but he wouldn't have sunk. What was left of him after he was incinerated would have coasted along on the surface of the lava.

But that wouldn't have made for drama. Seeing nothing but steam changing to smoke would have been boring, I guess.

[GaYellowDawg]

8. Really?

You watched a movie about magic rings and eternal elves and wizards and walking trees and you were annoyed that a lava death was unrealistic?

Maybe it was magic lava. Or maybe the magic ring magically altered Gollum's density to allow him to sink into the lava. I mean, hell, the ring could already control minds and bend light, why not alter a little density, too?

I'm just giving you a hard time.

[greyl]

9. But it wasn't magic lava!

[n2doc]

12. Sure it was!

How else could it have destroyed the ring? No other lava would do!

[Warpy]

14. Yes, suspension of disbelief was essential

and I'd read those books as a kid wondering how they'd stage all that stuff if they ever tried to make a movie of it. I'm delighted that computer animation progressed as much as it has before they even tried. The Mines of Moria would have been incredibly disappointing had they been constructed on a sound stage.

I was equally disappointed by the sword fight over boiling lava in Star Wars III. While you might be able to survive that environment of heat and gases that turn into acid in your lungs for a short period, there is no way you could fight like a Ninja warrior in it.

Face it, they just can't do boiling lava right and need to stop using it as a plot device.

[svpadgham]

16. Use the Force

That usually helps explain any event in a Star Wars movie. Your post also unintentionally attributes some inaccuracies to ninja fighting styles.

[Fumesucker]

10. Granted, but would the Terminator have *really* sunk in molten metal?

Eh?

[Javaman]

11. Personally, I would do a cannon ball. nt

[n2doc]

13. My feeling is the person would skitter across the lava like a drop of water or a sausage

on a very hot griddle. Not a good death, except maybe in the Klingon sense.

[CJvR]

15. Herculaneum

IIRC the people of Herculaneum was killed by a pyroclastic flow which boiled their brains.

Magma is both hotter and denser, hotter than a crematorium.

[kestrel91316]

17. This thread is awesome.