Plot hole: When they are trying to find a way to stop the lava from going in to the museum, Tommy Lee Jones has an idea to push a bus up against the museum to divert the lava. The plan works but the lava does not melt the bus like it melted Tommy Lee Jones' car or the fire truck. Even though the bus melts later in the movie, it doesn't melt it instantly like it did with the fire truck.
Volcano (1997)
1 plot hole - chronological order
Directed by: Mick Jackson
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Don Cheadle, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann
Factual error: The volcanic lava in this movie moves incredibly fast in the subway line. This is not only inaccurate, but also ridiculous and unnecessary. Volcanic lava can possibly move faster when in a concealed area that insulates it, but insulated lava cannot move that fast.
Amy: Sometimes magma can find one of those fissures and rise up through it.
Roark: What's magma?
Rachel: Lava.
Roark: Lava? Right here in L.A?
Amy: It is one of the possibilities.
Roark: We have a history of that here in the downtown area?
Rachel: Paricutin... 1943, a Mexican farmer sees smoke coming out of the middle of his cornfield. A week later there's a volcano a thousand feet high. There's no history of anything until it happens. Then there is.
Trivia: The lava was primarily made of methylcellulose, the thickening agent used in fast-food milkshakes, and the ash was made mostly of ground newspaper.
Question: Does the art museum catch fire from the lava even though they tried to stop it by putting a bus against it?
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Answer: Lava is extremely hot. It heats the air above and around it to such a degree that it can reach the flash point of various items.
Greg Dwyer