9 July 2012 Last updated at 13:19

BBC launch Volcano Live programme from Hawaii

Ever wanted to know more about volcanoes or see one erupting? Well the BBC is finding out all about them in a series of special programmes from Hawaii.

The show will feature volcanoes erupting and will look at some of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history.

Hawaii is made up of a string of islands formed by molten rock called magma erupting from the seabed and creating volcanoes.

Professor Iain Stewart and Kate Humble will present Volcano Live from Kilauea on Hawaii, the world's most active volcano - starting on BBC Two on 9 July.

What are volcanoes?

A volcano is a piece of land (usually a mountain) from which molten rock erupts.

The Earth's crust is made up of huge slabs called tectonic plates, which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

When two plates collide or pull apart, magma is squeezed up between two plates and erupts as red-hot liquid rock called lava.

Five Volcano facts

1 - Lava flows can reach 1,250 degrees Celsius and can burn pretty much everything in their path - a glass thermometer would just melt if you tried to measure the temperature.

2 - The worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century is considered to be the eruption of Mt. Pelée in 1902. It was on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean and it killed 30,121 people.

3 - Three hundred million, or 1 in 20, people in the world live within 'danger range' of an active volcano. That means one that could erupt!

4 - About 1,500 different volcanoes have erupted in the past 10,000 years. On any given day, there are about 20 volcanoes erupting somewhere in the world.

5 - The world's largest active volcano is Mauna Loa in Hawaii.