# The incredible melting man! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721 "2005-02-07T00:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/1 "2005-02-07T00:09:25Z")
I happened to see a really ditzy sniipet of a movie five muntes ago. I think its from “Volcano”. There’s a construction worker guy and he’s carrying a driver off the melting subway (from the volcano erupting in the tunnels). Now, he gets to the end of the car, using a really stupid overhand carry rather than dragging. Then, instead of hopping off immediately and moving forward to get out of the lava thats rising into the tunnel, he stands there looking dramatic. While the lava cuts him off. Then he jumps into the puddle of lava and tosses the guy… and melts away into the lava. 1. We’re just asuming there are no choking fumes. 2. I believe lava exposure doesn’t cause your body to melt in seconds. Flesh and bone != wax. 3. Can we probably expect 3rd degree burns, possibly losing the feet? ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/2 "2005-02-07T00:23:55Z")
Caught the same snippet last night and was also wondering about it. But I was more concerned that the guy managed to stay vertical as his legs are dissolving beneath him. I’m pretty sure he’d have pitched forward into it from the getgo. That said, magma’s melted ROCK so I dont see why melting flesh would be out of the realm of possibility. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/3 "2005-02-07T01:39:35Z")
Oh, it would get you eventually, but I think it would take more time. The guy would pitch forward and some of his buddies would grab him and drag him out. Nasty burns and need some skin trans and reconstructive surgery. Of course, if he’d just pulled the guy along the floor he’d have made it before the lava anyway. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/4 "2005-02-07T04:39:11Z")
Oh, here’s [a link](http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/frequent_questions/top_101/Lava/Lava11.html) on the subject. It mentions two geologists who fell into lava and survived. So your intuition was right and he wouldn’t have melted. At least not instantly. Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/5 "2005-02-07T04:41:05Z")
I don’t know about lava, but when it comes to the molton slag an INCO employee in Sudbury slipped into about fifteen years ago or so, his legs vaporized so quickly that it blew him back out. It was touch an go, but he lived. (Sorry, no cites on this one. It was described to me by one of the EMTs on the scene, and of course was reported in the media in the city at the time.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/6 "2005-02-07T10:47:03Z")
Here near Gary, IN where just able everyone seems to have worked in the steel mills at one time or another, or been related to someone who did, there are several stories of folks having accidents at work. Yes, molten steel _does_ have the ability to vaporize the human body. However, steel is not lava. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/7 "2005-02-07T14:34:07Z")
This lava was bright red and pretty hot, but was still pretty goopy. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/8 "2005-02-07T14:41:22Z")
[MST3K] Really, is there a _credible_ melting man? [/MST3K] ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/9 "2005-02-07T15:07:31Z")
[Hawaiian lava prints:](http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hawaii?Drives.hilina) > [@](#): > > The Mauna Iki trail goes from this spot on Hilina Pali road, through the Ka’ū desert and out on Highway 11 at the Footprints Trail. This trail is goes to a number of fascinating locations and spots… > pit craters and volcanic cones… **footprints in lava** where Hawaiians once stood. ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/10 "2005-02-07T15:13:46Z")
Flesh will not melt. If it’s hot enough, it will vapourize. Otherwise, it will burn away. First the flesh will dry out, then burn, eventually turning to ash. The cartilage will follow, and lastly, the bone will eventually follow suit. No melting though. The scene is screwy. Not a bad moive, though. To much pointless needless symbolic heroics. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/11 "2005-02-08T01:22:37Z")
Actually, it’s _possible_ to melt the subcutaneous fat under human skin, leading to the skin sloughing off, “degloving”, and otherwise peeling off in huge chunks. However, the circumstances that cause this also lead to massive tissue above and below the fat level. Those levels won’t melt, but they will char and burn. Quite messy, in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incredible-melting-man/288721/12 "2005-02-08T08:59:50Z")
‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘My Precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail _Precious_, and he was gone. _Or was he_…?