A cartoon animation of a geyser, showing how it erupts, as well as what happens out of sight, underground. Not much is known about the details of the plumbing systems, so this is only a symbolic representation. But it does address some of the common misconceptions (including the fact that the geyser is not heated directly by “lava”, but by hot deep groundwater), and shows a little of what goes on in detail (rising steam bubbles and convection warming the entire water column until it is near boiling throughout). Yes, I need to do a much better, detailed one, with a running clock, a moving PT diagram & temperature profile, etc. Maybe someday, but for now, here’s a rough approximation. For more information (including one way to build a working model), visit my university webpage: mypage.iusb.edu Special thanks to the men & women of GOSA, who observe geysers as a passion of the heart, and share both that passion and understanding with the world. Credit for the entire idea is due to my 8-year-old daughter Ellie, who wanted Daddy to build her a working geyser. Thank you, Ellie – we did it! — Brian Davis
Video Rating: 4 / 5
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im usin this as hw aswell !!!!!
this is great ill probably get strait A
Well, would you look at that…
Very happy to hear that
I sure did get an A on that my friend, full credit mostly because of your help here, thank you.
I would love to hear more about it (your research, if you wish)
My school research as well! Thank you!
i mean that this is all i learned
You mean you’re doing research on this right now?
thx – thats my school research
Well… sort of. Kinda. It’s more like a pressure cooker, but instead of a lid bolted on, you have a long column of water keeping the pressure high. For a boiling pot of water, you really don’t care that the top surface of the water is higher than the bottom (it’s not significant). For a geyser, that difference in pressure between the top and bottom of the water column is critical. But, essentially… it really is (conceptually!) this simple.
So let me get this strait? A geyser is almost like a pot of boiling water, only you cut some small small holes in the top?
It is illegal (seriously!) to throw *anything* into a geyser in Yellowstone (and yes, they are very serious about it). So I think a ferret is right out
. As far as lowering a camera in… believe it or not, it’s been done, more than a decade ago. Google “camera in old faithful kieffer” and take a look at the links. This is the only time the inside of a functioning geyser has been seen to my knowledge. It was informative.
So if it really empties, it’d be interesting to stick a mini camera in there real quick to see what it looks inside. Or throw a ferret in there
Thank you so much for giving me that feedback. I never thought this video would be referenced nearly as often as it has been, and I’m humbled and very, VERY happy that I’ve been able to help out a number of people (old and young!) to get a little bit better understanding of the world around them. Thank you for letting me know.
I just wish I could do these things justice… real geysers are amazing, interesting, and complex systems, and this animation just barely begins to show them.
Like so many other Commenters, my kid (4 y/o girl) asked how a geyser works. I said “Well, when hot water … uh … boils up from … uh … ” I know how it works but how do I explain it to a 4 y/o? … Hey, I know, I’ll look it up on YouTube! Haha! Thanks for giving her a visual! Great job on the vid.
You are very welcome. I really need to re-do this with some added material (and a better animation), but it seems to help a fair number of people just like this. I’m glad it helped. And if they get really interested, note that you can build a working (and fairly safe!) model in your kitchen with a cheap hotplate as the heat source (see my other geyser video, “CPVC Model Geyser” for some examples).
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! My child asked about geysers today, and your video was just perfect.
that was very interesting. i liked that
My six year old asked me how Geysers worked, this animation was linked with Old Faithful. It was clear and simple enough for him to understand, also helped me.
My son has now shown it to his class and made a model.
Thank you very much from Australia.
Are you still over at ND? I’m literally down the road at IUSB… and can show you have to make a functional in-the-classroom model
You are very welcome – it’s wonderful to hear that my very simple YT video is helping teach someone
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I’m really happy it helps. Note that you can build model geysers using simple plumbing supplies (one of my other YT videos). I had a web page up for it, but its not active at the moment (need to get on that).
I struggled to explain my 8 year old son how a geysir works. This really is a great way to explain how it works! Thanks for the job of making this:)
Thank you so much for these 110 hand drawn animations!! My boys (and I!) have really learned a lot from this video.
Sincerely,
Grateful Homeschool Family
I’m glad you found it interesting and helpful. I’d really love to do a better job on this sometime, but… it seems to work pretty well as is. One word of warning – real geysers can be amazingly more subtle and complicated than this. But this gives a rough idea of at least the basic mechanism. I’ve been experimenting with models to try to refine some details… but it’s very tricky. At least for me.