MQ Dante\'s Peak Homework PDF

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Dante’s Peak Movie Questions Disasters: Geology vs. Hollywood

Introduction A volcanologist arrives at a countryside town recently named the second most desirable place to live in America, and discovers that the long dormant volcano, Dante's Peak, may wake up at any moment. -imdb.com Learning Objectives ● Critically assess the portrayal of science, forecasting, and eruptive behavior of Dante’s Peak in the movie Dante’s Peak (1997). (4, b)

Part 1: Watch the movie As you are watching the video clips, look for the answers to the following questions. 1. In the opening scene of Dante’s Peak, Harry and his girlfriend are trying to escape during a volcanic eruption. Visibility is poor because of falling volcanic ash. Do volcanoes really produce ash? How can rocks burn/melt? Volcanic ash is formed during explosive volcanic eruptions, when dissolves gasses in magma expand and escape violently into the atmosphere. The force of the gasses shatters the magma and propels it into the atmosphere where it solidifies into roc. Rocks can melt omnce they reach 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit so its not very common for rocks to melt because this temperature is barely ever reached, nonetheless the rocks once melted turn into a hot lava substance called magma. 2. What volcanic hazard kills Harry’s girlfriend? Harry’s girlfriend dies in a volcanic explosion. More specifically a. clump of cooled lava la ds on the roof of Harrys truck which unfortunately cost Harrys girlfriend her life.

When Harry, the mayor, and her kids visit Grandma’s cabin, there is foreshadowing of disaster. List at least four signs (precursors) that Dante’s Peak is about to awaken. A series of small earthquakes began rolling through starting in 1980; by 1982 geophysicists were seeing other characteristic signs of volcanic activity: new steam vent development, and bulges in the surface of the calder. As well as new areas of hot ground, looking like magma rising from beneath the earth’s crust in bubbling hot pools. 3. Describe anything you saw in these clips that you think might be scientifically questionable. The seismicity earthquakes precurssing the volcano were just too large to be plausibly true usually precurssing earthquakes are on the smaller end ,eventually leading up to the blast but thee earthquakes were all over the seismic graph. This is inaccurate because the seismic graph should gradually trend upwards until eruption.

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4. Explain Harry’s “proof” that Dante’s Peak is a “ticking time bomb?” A massive earthquake occurs during a county meeting at the school, Harry is explaining cautionary evacuation routes, when suddenly mid meeting the biggest earthquake till that point in the movie shakes the town causing mass panic. Cementing Harrys worst thoughts that the volcano is now just a ticking time bomb 5. What caused the helicopter crash? Heavy volcanic ash causes the helicopters engine to jam and fail. Causing the pilot to lose control sending the helicopter crashing to the house bursting into flames. Almost wiping out Harrys car.

6. The film shows our hero et al. riding a boat that is rapidly dissolving in a lake made acidic by the volcano. What part do you think is real, and where has Hollywood exaggerated to create drama? Off the bat there would be no way to outrun the lava that suddenly destroys the house by the time they reach the boat. But the movie correctly depicts the boat dissolving. Yes, there are lakes on top of volcanoes that are primarily acidic but not enough to dissolve the boat on impact. So the movie accurately depicts the slow dissolving process of the boat and honestly they might’ve gone too quick for that process in the movie. 7. Harry dramatically drives through a lava flow. Do you think this is possible? Provide a couple sentences to explain your reasoning. There is absolutely no chance that any car that exists today would ever be able to make it through a lava flow. With a temperature of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, fresh lava will quickly melt rubber tires and ignite gas tanks 8. In the end, did the order of volcanic hazards make sense? Does something not add up? What, if anything, is out of place? Overall the movie Dante’s Peak is for the most part an ac curate one which can’t be said for all volcanoes films. If I had to gripe about any inaccuracies in the movie it would be the acid lake. There’s simply no way the entire process of acidifying the lake fully would have completed in days let alone hours....