Io facts-Science project
Jupiters moon
Jupiter's moons
Jupiter has aproximetly 63 moons. The largest ones are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
The first one to be discovered was Io.
The moon that I am going to talk about is Io
Io has an aproximate diameter of 3640 km/2262 miles and our moon has a diameter of 3474 km, so Io is a bit bigger than our moon. Io circles 1 round of jupiter in aproximetly 2 days, the distance of that is 262000 miles. The same side of Io is always facing jupiter.
Scientists assume a bit too much
The first probe to get a picture of Io was the voyager probe.When scientists first saw Io they thought it would be just a big block of ice and rock. But actually Io is full of costantly spewing volcanoes.
Why are volcanoes constantly spewing magma/lava?
Io is at a constant tug-a-war with jupiter, so Io is constantly being squeezed in and out like a sponge ball. Since it gets squeezed like this, it generates a lot of heat and the heat makes the magma bubble like water in a pot when the stove is on and then if u close he lid of the pot, after a few minutes the water will explode out. same with Io, but Io has volcanoes instead of a pot and top so thats how volcanoes explode constantly.
Then how do scientists study Io's features?
They can't really since its surface is always changing. Also, at the same time it shoots firing sulphur plumes randomly out into space. They are like craters filled with magma, and some chemicals.
Colors?
Io has a mix of colors because of all the chemicals it has. The colors are all either bright yellow, orange, red, black and green.
The red spot on the lower left corner is where a massive volcano is.
Sounds
Sound exists through electromagnetic vibrations, even though space a like a vacume. Io makes some weird noises. A voyager probe has picked them and converted the to sound so that the human ear can hear it.
Jupiter's moon Io: A Volcanic Inferno
Demonstrations
One way to show how Io heats up is to take a paper clip and bend the paper clip back and forth. Then touch the part the you bended. It should be warm.