Salt Volcanoes on Io

An anonymous reader writes "Johns Hopkins astronomers trying to resolve the 30 year mystery of how one of Jupiter's moons generates its swirling clouds of charged particles have found their answer. The stunningly colorful moon, called Io, has a pillar of salt that spews from its volcanic surface."

Comments

Told ya

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

Dammit Lot, I told you not to look back!

So, that's where she is...

[Arthur Dent]

I had always wondered why nobody had found Lot's Wife.

It all becomes clear now :).

Funny story

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

Ok here's a funny story from high school about the Lot thing (wife pillar of salt).

My friend Jared is a very religious guy, and he always argued religion with our AP English Teacher (who was Jewish) and would get mad.

One day they were talking about Lot's wife and how women are (somehting or other, I forget what) and Jared was getting mad as usual. After class I said "Just remember Jared, you gotta take everything he says with a pillar of salt." Jared pondered that for a minute then busted out laughing. I didn't actually mean to make such an awesome pun!

As for the actual "Salt volcano" that's pretty cool. Kinda like how Calisto (I think it's that one, maybe Europa) has the liquid methane eruptions. Plus that's a good quote: it's a heaven for scientists eager to watch a planetary body regularly belch up tons of its innards.

However, this was of particular interest to me:
Interactions between the clouds of electrically charged gas around Io and electrically charged particles in Jupiter's polar atmosphere speed up the rotation of the charged particles around Io but also apply an infinitesmal drag to the rotation of Jupiter, gradually slowing the speed at which the giant planet spins.

Maybe it actually won't stop eventually but reverse it's rotation. I know there's some "law" about a planet that it has to spin a certain way or something (I remember somebody saying that in a different story) but heck you never know.

Re:Funny story

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

Interactions between the clouds of electrically charged gas around Io and electrically charged particles in Jupiter's polar atmosphere speed up the rotation of the charged particles around Io but also apply an infinitesmal drag to the rotation of Jupiter, gradually slowing the speed at which the giant planet spins.
I struggle to get my mind around just how massive Jupiter is, particularly with respect to the force that Io's ionosphere (say that three times fast) can apply to that mass.
Gnats have a better chance of stopping my Jeep as they meet my windshield.

Re:Funny story

[SEWilco]

Gnats have a better chance of stopping my Jeep as they meet my windshield.

Don't antagonize the gnats.

Margarita time

[foistboinder]

Now all we need are a tequila volcanoe, a triple sec volcanoe and a lime juice volcanoe.