Unbelievable moment man awakens a volcano after throwing something in

A man seemed to awaken a volcano from its slumber after throwing a small object into it.

Whilst most of us wouldn't dream of going near a potentially active volcano, it seems this person was just too intrigued to see what would happen if he the something in one.

The insane incident was captured on camera, which saw two people hoovering by the pit of the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia - a continuously active basaltic shield volcano.

Rather than make a quick getaway though, the pair seem to linger and wait to see what happened. Take a look below:

It makes for pretty eerie viewing, with a tiny spurt of lava quickly erupting into raging hot fire.

Weirdly though, there seems to be a bit of delay with the small hole staying pretty still - save for a few globules.

Within seconds what had once been a silent and unmoving surface is a roiling pond of molten turbulence and the volcano awakens all thanks to one little object being thrown into it.

Thankfully, the whole thing was a controled test by researchers who wanted to work out what would happen if a human being fell into lava from a great height.

YouTube/Photovolcanica

With lava being pretty dense, a person falling in would be far more likely to float rather than sink, although for the unlucky individual the difference would probably be irrelevant as they'd be dead either way.

Interestingly, lava can be dense enough that you could actually walk across it, wearing the proper protective equipment of course, because otherwise the heat would leave you horribly burned.

On a side note, you should definitely keep as far away from volcanoes as you can, as daredevils chasing eruptions can end up dying due to the deadly force of nature.

However, they wanted to know what would happen if a person fell into a volcano from such a great height that it could potentially break through the surface crust and punch a hole in the lava.

Obviously they weren't going to use a real person because throwing test subjects into volcanoes is a nightmare to clear with health and safety, and also because murdering people is wrong.

Photovolcanica

Instead, the intrepid researchers used a box filled with organic waste weighing about 30kg to take the terrifying 80 metre plunge into the lava.

They believe the sudden awakening of the volcano and the violent expulsion of lava owes much to the steam produced due to organic matter falling into the volcano.

Since humans are mostly water, chucking a person into a volcano would probably have pretty much the same effect, though obviously don't throw people into volcanoes for the previously mentioned reason that murder is wrong.

It should also probably be mentioned that the old proverb of letting sleeping dogs lie should go doubly for volcanoes, if you accidentally awaken one by chucking something in, you're going to have to give a hell of an explanation.

They have a nasty habit of causing massive destruction to the surrounding area, while even areas living near volcanoes which rarely erupt have to be careful.