Question: If all volcanos erupted at once would the world be ripped apart

Monique Henson answered on 16 Nov 2015:

I don’t think so, but it would get a lot cooler. When volcanoes erupt they give out lots of gas and ash into the atmosphere. Some of these ash particles reflect light from the Sun. That means when lots of ash is thrown up into the atmosphere, more light from the Sun is reflected and absorbed in the upper atmosphere. That means that the lower atmosphere (near the ground) doesn’t warm up as much. It’s usually a really small effect, but it has been noticeable in the past.

In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in the region that’s now Indonesia. The next year, there was a major drop in global temperatures, which caused weird weather patterns and global food shortages. It may have even inspired the novel Frankenstein. It’s often referred to as the year without a summer. There’s a really good podcast on it here.