Yellowstone: Is Old Faithful Really Faithful?
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
How do they tell when Old Faithful will next erupt?
Even early explorers to what is now Yellowstone National Park called the park's most famous geyser Old Faithful. This geyser goes off every 60-90 minutes. Learn how Park Rangers estimate when the next eruption will begin.
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Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Yellowstone: Is Old Faithful Really Faithful?
Clip: Special | 1m 4sVideo has Closed Captions
Even early explorers to what is now Yellowstone National Park called the park's most famous geyser Old Faithful. This geyser goes off every 60-90 minutes. Learn how Park Rangers estimate when the next eruption will begin.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Science Trek
Science Trek is a place where parents, kids, and educators can watch short, educational videos on a variety of science topics. Every Monday Science Trek releases a new video that introduces children to math, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career potentials in a fun, informative way.[MUSIC] JOAN CARTAN-HANSEN, HOST: Is Old Faithful really faithful?
[kissing sounds] Not faithful as in devoted, but faithful as in predictable.
And the answer is yes, sort of.
Early explorers were amazed when they first saw Yellowstone's geysers.
They noticed that they could predict the timing of the eruption of one of the geysers within a few minutes.
They called it Old Faithful.
It's the most well-known geyser in the world.
So how do they predict when it will erupt?
Rangers watch to see how high and how long an eruption goes.
The longer the eruption goes, the longer it will take until it goes off again.
A short duration means the next eruption will happen in 60 to 70 minutes.
A longer eruption means a longer wait of about 90 minutes.
The prediction is usually pretty good, give or take 10 minutes.
It hasn't always been the same duration.
An earthquake in 1959 changed the ground underneath the geyser and that caused the time between eruptions to increase.
For more information about Yellowstone, check out the Science Trek website.
You'll find it at sciencetrek.org.
NewYellowstone: How Did Yellowstone Get Its Name?
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Clip: Special | 1m 4s | How did Yellowstone National Park get its name? (1m 4s)
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Science Trek is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV
Major Funding by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and the Idaho National Laboratory. Additional Funding by the Friends of Idaho Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.