# Legality of dropping things into a volcano **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978 "2014-01-16T17:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/21 "2014-01-17T07:58:32Z")
The only continuously erupting fluid lava (basaltic) crater I know is Kilauea in the main Hawaiian island. It’s a permanent danger zone, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/22 "2014-01-17T11:47:31Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > The only continuously erupting fluid lava (basaltic) crater I know is Kilauea in the main Hawaiian island. It’s a permanent danger zone, as far as I know. Then let’s hire ISIS to do it. ---
**Author:** ![RememberMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@RememberMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RememberMe)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/23 "2014-01-17T13:59:18Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > The only continuously erupting fluid lava (basaltic) crater I know is Kilauea in the main Hawaiian island. It’s a permanent danger zone, as far as I know. We could just build a highway to there. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/24 "2014-01-17T14:35:40Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > The only continuously erupting fluid lava (basaltic) crater I know is Kilauea in the main Hawaiian island. It’s a permanent danger zone, as far as I know. The one in the movie I linked to is [Erta Ale,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erta_ale) in Ethiopia. Like Kilauea, it’s got a perpetually active lava lake in the crater. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/25 "2014-01-17T15:14:43Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > As for throwing stuff out of an airplane - in general, if the country has laws about operating airplanes, you probably need some sort of permission to throw things out. It’s not something generally permitted. Coke bottles, for instance, can lead to no end of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/26 "2014-01-17T17:47:12Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Coke bottles, for instance, can lead to no end of trouble. The gods must be crazy, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/27 "2014-01-17T19:06:11Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Then let’s hire ISIS to do it. They’re out of business now, I’ve heard. I think one of the ex-employees is starting a country-western career. She’ll be bigger than Mac Davis! ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/28 "2014-01-17T22:08:43Z")
Are you thinking of throwing a virgin into a volcano? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/29 "2014-01-17T22:25:58Z")
Throwing stuff from a small plane has drawbacks. A friend of my husband decided to scatter his mother’s ashes over the Pacific. Since he already had the plane, what could possibly go wrong? He opened the tiny window, stuck the urn out, and was promptly covered in mom-ash, as was the entire interior of the plane. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/30 "2014-01-17T22:30:33Z")
[Covanta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covanta) does it with just plain old fire. Seems like a sweet deal too. I talked to a guy there, he said they make a third of their money from people paying them to take their trash. Another third of their money comes from burning that trash, generating it into electricity, and selling it to the utilities. And the final third comes from the scrap value of the metal that’s leftover from the incinerator. Your plan is just a landfill, so you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. You ought to capitalize on the scrap plus energy value of what people pay you to get rid of. Plus a volcano-powered generator would be awesome. You could probably get even more money by charging for volcano-generator-incinerator-salvage tours. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/31 "2014-01-18T06:30:29Z")
Most things won’t be “utterly disintegrated.” That goes double if they’re made from dolomite, the tough black mineral that won’t cut out when there’s heat all about! Also, don’t toss cheese into a lactose-intolerant volcano (that’s a little more obscure, I think, but I believe in you!) ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/32 "2014-01-18T14:05:20Z")
I don’t have an answer, but just wanted to say questions like this are why I love this place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/33 "2014-01-19T09:59:14Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Most things won’t be “utterly disintegrated.” That goes double if they’re made from dolomite, the tough black mineral that won’t cut out when there’s heat all about! What about things that are 40% dolomite? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/34 "2014-01-20T00:07:29Z")
^^^ You’re thinking of some other mineral. Dolomite is just magnesium-rich calcite. It’s nowhere near to being considered a refractory mineral and it’s rarely colored black. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/35 "2014-01-20T01:05:30Z")
It’s referring to the “Jurassic Bark” episode of **Futurama** , when Fry’s fossilized dog gets thrown into lava, and the professor says it might still survive because it’s made of dolomite, [“The tough black mineral that won’t cop out when there’s heat all about!”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolemite), and Bender goes in after it because “I’m 40% dolomite!” ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/36 "2014-01-20T02:39:47Z")
Your link says ‘Dolemite.’ ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/37 "2014-01-20T03:07:11Z")
Dolomite is the mineral, Dolemite is the pimp. Of course it’s more white-gray. If you were to take things literally, then the numbers that Bender gives throughout the series add up to a lot more than 100%. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/38 "2014-01-20T20:44:38Z")
Yeah, the pronunciation is the same even though the spelling is different, and the “tough black mineral that won’t cop out” is actually (I believe) a parody of a line in the Shaft song, but it all adds up into something hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/39 "2014-01-20T22:28:08Z")
I hear this cat Shaft is a bad mother … ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978/40 "2014-01-21T15:58:49Z")
… shut your mouth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-dropping-things-into-a-volcano/678978.md?page=3)