Mapping Earthquakes and Volcanoes Skills Lab

During this lab, we worked on our mapping skills and used coordinates of latitude and longitude to plot Earthquake and Volcanic occurences on a world map.

When you write your blog post be sure to include the title of the lab, the guiding question, your hypothesis, a picture of the map you plotted the coordinates on, as well as your analysis (question 1 and 2) as well as the conclusion.  Complete the More to Explore as well.  EXCEPT, on the map of the world, or U.S. locate active volcanoes and areas of earthquake activity.  Determine the distance fro m your home to the nearest active volcano.  :)

Guiding Question:  Is there a pattern in the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes?  Well...what do you think? 

Modeling Mantle Convection Currents Lab

Guiding Question:  How might convection in Earth's mantle affect tectonic plates?  OR How does hot liquid affect an object at the surface of colder water? 

What is your prediction-Hypothesis?  Be sure to include your reasons behind the prediction. 

Skills Focus:  Making models, observing

Write a blog post using the questions 1 and 4 for the Data Analysis, and 2, 3, and 5 as part of the Conclusion.  Remember, when writing a conclusion, you should always go back to the Guiding Question and answer it.  In Further Inquiry:  think about errors, how the model represents convection currents, etc...  Also, look at the Designing Experiments Section on the lab sheet.  What further inquiries do you have or new experiments could you create? 

Growing a Crystal Garden Project

Be sure that your blog post includes a picture of your map, your garden, and the key of where you planted your "seed crystals".

Every day you should make a journal entry in your blog post, include any modification you make along the way.
 
Be sure that you are keeping a daily record of crystal growth, complete with sketches of the different kinds of crystals.
(Borax, Epsom Salts, Salt, Sugar, Monoammonium Phosphate)

Here are some photos of crystals we made in class without being on a certain material for your reference.

See the small cube shaped crystals?

Salt climbs up this straw and takes it over! 

Do you see the needle shaped crystals? 

Borax crystals we grew look almost diamond-like.

These sugar crystals are pretty big cubes!  Yum...

If you are having a hard time growing crystals, perhaps you could add standing pools of solution which would have more success.

Compare growth of different kinds of crystals on your garden, as well as those on other classmates.  Remember:  You will make a short presentation later.

These are the five solutions we used during this project.
Aren't they beautiful? 

Guiding Question for this project was:  How do crystals grow? 

After two weeks of observations, make your final observation today (Feb. 11)
 Anything growing?  Did the materials change?  
Be sure to include pictures of what the different crystals your garden contained look like or should have looked like. 

Data Analysis: 
What material did the crystals grow bet on?
What material did the crystals grow the worst on?
What solution was the easiest to grow crystals from?
What solution grew crystals the slowest or were the most difficult?
Which method was the best for growing crystals?

Conclusions:  What can you conclude about the conditions that are needed for crystals to grow?  Give examples from evidence you have seen from either your garden or classmate's gardens. What have you learned about crystals during this project?  Do you have a new hypothesis? 

Further Inquiry: What errors may have occurred in your garden?  How would you change the experiment if you were to do it all over again?  What further questions do you have about crystals and the conditions they need for growth?