In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius violently erupted and caused catastrophic damage to southern Italy. The eruption released a giant cloud of tephra and gases that were equivalent to 100,000 times the thermal energy of an atomic bomb! Facing the brunt of the eruption, the city of Pompeii was destroyed and its people were devastated. Hot ash rained down upon the cities and pyroclastic flow knocked down buildings throughout the city. It was a recipe for disaster for the people of these cities as many were incinerated on the spot or suffocated from the hot ash that rained from above. After the eruption ended, the landscape was altered and the city was silent. There were no survivors and it was a grim remi...