How Do Volcanoes Sleep and Wake Up?

Volcanoes sleep and wake up like big, slow clocks. When they're asleep, nothing happens, but when something inside the Earth changes, they wake up and erupt! Think of it like a volcano filling up with lava, and then it bursts out like a firework.

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Examples

A volcano might sleep for hundreds of years and then suddenly erupt like it’s been waiting all that time.
It's like when you fill up a bottle with water, if it gets too full, it spills out.
Sometimes the ground shakes because the lava is moving under the surface.

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Categories: Science · volcanoes,earth science,geology