If lava melts rock, wouldnt the lava melt the volcano?

Answer 1

No.
First, a lava never "melts" the country rocks. It can only bring about certain metamorphic changes through a process known as Contact Metamorphism. It may show some baking effects in certain cases.
Moreover, a molten lave is not a good conductor of heat. So as soon as it comes in contact with the country rock, its margins get solidified. preventing further supply of heat from lava to the country rock. You will find an extremely fine-grained chilled margin in almost all the lavas.
So your original assumption that the lavas melt rocks is wrong.
By the same reason it can never melt the volcano walls. At the most it can break them by its force of explosion.

Answer 2

This is a question of semantics: lava doesn't melt rock, lava is molten (melted) rock. As lava flows out onto the surface, the difference of the air dissipates the heat in lava rapidly, especially if the flow is under water. Since there is so much more air or water, lava solidifies quickly, metamorphosing the contact zone but little else.

Answer 3

Think of it like water flowing over a big block of ice. The water is trying to melt the ice, but the ice is also trying to freeze the water. There's a lot more ice than water, so the ice stays frozen. If you turn off the tap, the water will eventually freeze.

The same thing happens with volcanoes, as soon as the source deep within the earth stops spewing out lava, the lava on the surface of the earth freezes and turns to rock.

Answer 4

Lava is magma, melted rock that comes to the surface from the earths interior through a volcanic processes. Volcano's are made in part by cooled and solidified lava, called basalt, which is a very hard rock.

Answer 5

Lava is melted rock and Lava is housed in the volcano.

So no the lava will not melt the volcano.

Answer 6

When a substance changes state from solid to liquid, (or liquid to gas) it absorbs a lot of heat without increasing in temperature.
This is called latent heat, and is why solids and liquids of the same substance can exist in contact with each other, at the same temperature. (the "melting point")

If the lava contains enough heat, it will melt its surroundings.
So, if the lava has enough heat, it will melt the volcano.
Asking how much heat do you need to "melt" a volcano is like asking "How long is a piece of string?"

Answer 7

whilst a Volcano erupts it somewhat is a unpredicted occurrence, like popping a zit, the lava merely comes out somewhat with out put off and then the volcano settles. The lava on the volcano cools and in all likelihood rebuilds the melted rock layer decrease than it. additionally even at extreme temperatures, rock takes time to heat temperature up, rather deep rock. So it takes beyond properly-known time. and you ought to wish to submit to in strategies that if some factor is warmer than the air around it, no keep in mind how heat it somewhat is, it somewhat is in a continuing state of cooling.

Answer 8

Yes, it is melting it as the lava comes out. That's why at the end it's a little smaller. Not much though because the volcano is just hardened lava.

Answer 9

lava/magma is molten rock and it can melt rock but if you think about how thick the wall of a volcano is, it wouldn't liquify it in a split second now would it? Besides, the volcano has formed over millions of years after continuous eruptions which have solidified and built up - layers of molten rock and ash from the inside. Our earth is continously changing...

Answer 10

lava/magma is stored inside the volcano chamber.
the rock that is turned into magma must have a lower melting point than the actual volcano rock.