Truth about what would happen to your body if you fell into a volcano is traumatizing people

I'm sure you can imagine that tumbling into a volcano would be a rather grisly end, but the reality is actually much worse than you think.

It's not really something we like to dwell too much on - and even more so after learning what would actually happen.

Before we get into it, let's recap on what lava actually is and how hot it gets.

People were traumatized after learning what would happen (Getty Stock Photo)

Also referred to as magma, molten lava ranges in temperature from around 700 to 1,200°C.

It's hard to imagine just how hot that is, but it's fair to say it's way hotter than anything you'd find in your home.

But, for reference, fire burning in your fireplace would be around 600°C.

So, all things considered, what would happen to the human body if a person tragically fell into a volcano?

Well, it's not a happy ending. According to David Damby, a research chemist at the USGS Volcano Science Center, the water within your body would likely boil to steam.

“The water in the body would probably boil to steam, all while the lava is melting the body from the outside in,” Damby told The Verge.

Your skin would blister before even hitting the lava, meanwhile clothing and hair would likely burst into flames.

And if you thought you would sink, you'd be wrong, with volcanologist Adam Kent once telling Digg that you would actually float.

Lava might seem like a liquid, but it's not the same consistency as water, for example, and it actually hardens very quickly.

"The basic idea is that the gases in a body would expand rapidly and probably cause a series of minor explosions," Kent added.

"I think that you would be pretty rapidly overcome by heat, both conductive and radiant.

"If you are ever near an active lava flow the radiant heat is crippling at quite some distance from the lava — let alone lying right on top."

In a post on X, people were pretty horrified after discovering what would happen.

One wrote: "How fast does that happen? This sounds like torture!"

While another said: "Have I ever been around a volcano? No. Am I now scared this might have happen? Yes."

Meanwhile, a third added: "Well there’s that happy news I was waiting for today."

Lava is relatively slow flowing (Getty Stock Photo)

You might think that lava is the most dangerous part of a volcano erupting, but

actually it flows relatively slowly, meaning you'd probably have chance to outrun it.

Volcanic mudflows, however, are a different story. Consisting of volcanic material and debris, they leave the volcano in a very speedy fashion at over 120 miles per hour.

Meanwhile, clouds of toxic gases are also emitted from volcanoes, as well as other debris - including huge rocks - that are flung out of the volcano at high speed.

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