How Do Volcanoes Actually Erupt?

Imagine a bottle full of fizzy soda. When you shake it and open the cap, the soda explodes out, that's kind of like what happens inside a volcano. Deep under the Earth, there’s hot rock called magma. When pressure builds up too much, the magma rushes out through a crack in the ground, and poof, an eruption happens! This is why volcanoes erupt: because the Earth is full of bubbling energy waiting to burst free.