Adventurous Guy Asks About Roasting Marshmallows Over A Volcano; US Geological Survey Responds

By Andrea Ruth | 1:30 PM on May 29, 2018

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In this May 24, 2018 photo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, lava erupts from a fissure in the Leilani Estates neighborhood near Pahoa on the island of Hawaii. Three lava flows from eruptions of Kilauea volcano are now flowing into the ocean off Hawaii's Big Island. Hawaii County officials say the third flow started pouring into the sea Thursday. Lava is spewing from a fissure in a rural community that's feeding the two other flows that are reaching the waves. (Grace Simoneau/FEMA via AP)

Teachers always say there are no stupid questions, and that may be true, but there are definitely some dumb ideas that challenge the idea as this one sent on Twitter to the U.S. Geological Survey on Monday proves.

The USGS was asked by @jayfurr, “Is it safe to roast marshmallows over volcanic vents? Assuming you had a long enough stick, that is? Or would the resulting marshmallows be poisonous?”

Erm…we're going to have to say no, that's not safe. (Please don't try!) If the vent is emitting a lot of SO2 or H2S, they would taste BAD. And if you add sulfuric acid (in vog, for example) to sugar, you get a pretty spectacular reaction.

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) May 29, 2018

The USGS clearly doesn’t want anyone to have any fun, coming along with a killjoy response:

“Erm…we’re going to have to say no, that’s not safe. (Please don’t try!) If the vent is emitting a lot of SO2 or H2S, they would taste BAD. And if you add sulfuric acid (in vog, for example) to sugar, you get a pretty spectacular reaction.”

One could make the argument that those dumb enough to do such a thing aren’t meant to be long for this world anyway, but, hey! The more you know.