Using my camera, I check the temperatures inside a lava tube at the Masaya Volcano.


Changing Energy On the Masaya Volcano, the air smells like rotten eggs. My eyes, nose, and throat burn from the fumes. Not far from the crater, I see something interesting. I find a series of large, dark tunnels that look like caves. Tese are lava tubes. Long ago, flowing rivers of lava carried


the volcano’s geothermal energy. Te lava melted the rock beneath it, and as the top of the flow cooled, it formed a tunnel. I use the camera to study the features of these lava tubes and record the temperatures at this site. It’s clear to me that the Masaya Volcano has a lot of power. I want to compare what I’m seeing here


to what is happening at another volcano, Momotombo. People have built a power plant there that uses the volcano’s energy to make electricity. It produces close to 4 percent of all of Nicaragua’s electrical energy. Geothermal energy there changes into mechanical energy as heat makes water boil and steam.


A power plant at Momotombo changes the volcano’s geothermal energy into electrical energy.


6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


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