Many popular movies, including “The Return of the King” from the Lord of the Rings franchise, show a character dying in lava by sinking into it. Lava has a density over three times that of water and between one hundred thousand and one million times its viscosity. Because the human body has a density just over that of water, it is impossible for a human to sink in lava; he or she would float! This can be shown by a simple experiment: make a small figure out of Styrofoam. Push him into a bucket or tray of motor oil. He will, of course, simply float across the surface. Ignoring the fact that he didn’t burst into flames, this shows what would happen to a human falling into lava.