olcanoes are Earth’s ultimate drama queens—beautiful, terrifying, and totally unstoppable. But how do they actually work? And yes… are they basically the planet’s angry pimples?

In this fiery episode of Explain It Like I’m 5, host Alex dives deep (but not too deep!) into the molten world of volcanoes—how they form, why they erupt, and how they’ve shaped our planet. You’ll learn:

What’s really happening beneath Earth’s crust 

Why volcanoes form along tectonic plate boundaries and hotspots

The difference between slow, oozy lava and explosive eruptions

How volcanoes can both destroy and create life

Plus, wild facts about volcanic lightning, underwater eruptions, and Mars’s massive Olympus Mons

It’s part geology lesson, part nature documentary, and part “ew, gross” metaphor that actually makes perfect sense.