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? 

Dynamic Earth!!!

Today we will begin our new unit on Earth's structure.  Before you visit the website below, think about what you already know about Earth, how it works, what it looks like inside, what parts make up the Earth?  Write a response to this KWL prompt in a new blog post.  Be sure to write down as well questions about any aspect of Earth that you want to learn about. 

http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/main_frames.html

When visiting this Smithsonian Website, visit the Multimedia Section.  When you are there, you will be able to click on a variety of topics.  Throughout this unit, we will be studying the forces behind the Earth's changes, the rock cycle, rock types, types of mining, minerals and how mining works to be used in the production of vital and not so vital goods.

Visit the various sections regarding:  Plate Tectonics and Volcanoes, Gems and Minerals, Rocks and Mining.

In Plate Tectonics, pay attention mostly to the Inner Earth and The Unreachable Frontier.  Within Inner Earth, find out the layers of the Earth and what they are like inside.  In the Unreachable Frontier, find out what meteorites may tell us about space.  Also, visit the rocks section in Unreachable Frontier.  Discuss how the special rocks called peridotites can give us clues about the Inner Earth.  Then, v isit diamonds.  How do diamonds grow?  Where are they found?  How do they get to the surface of the Earth? 

You may be interested as well in Volcanoes and Hotspots as this will explain convection and will allow you to understand how the Rock Cycle Works later on.

In Rocks and Mining, pay attention to the Rocks at and below Earth's Surface as well as Mining.  However, when you go into each subsection there are many different tabs you can click on.

Visit each and go back and forth trying to get an idea of the question:  Where do rocks come from?  How are they formed?  Why are there so many different rocks and colors?  What is a mine and how does it work?  Why do we need mining?  What do we get from mining?  How are the rocks processed after being dug out from a mine?

Looking at Gas Properties!!!

http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/states-of-matter


Go to the link above and click on the green button: Run Now!

Tab # 1 You will see a pot with molecules of matter in it. Be sure you are on the tab for Solids, Liquids, Gases. In this page, your task is to change the phases of matter by turning up the heat or taking heat away. What do you notice about the molecules of neon, argon, oxygen and water? How are they similar and how do they differ? You can reset as often as you like. What happens to the neon when the temperature is room temperature? When you add ice or heat? Write down all of your observations when you finish in a new blog post.

Tab # 2    Then, click on the tab that says Phase Changes. Here you will see the pot again with a lid, a finger, a pump, and a pressure gauge.

You can compress the matter inside by clicking on the finger and drag it up and down. You can also change the phases by adding or taking away heat. Notice how the phase changes on the right. You can add more molecules by using the bicycle pump the same way as the finger.

Write down all of your observations as you experiment with this simulation. What is the correlation (connections, similarities, changes) between pressure and temperature as well as the state of matter you are changing? What causes the lid to blow off? What patterns do you see? What happens to the molecules when you decrease or increase the temperature? What about pressure? What if the temperature doesn't change, but you compress the matter inside the pan?

Be sure that you have posted all of your observations in one single post. Write approximately one paragraph for EACH of your observations from the two tabs (Solid, Liquid, Gas; & Phase Changes) in the simulation of your observations and conclusions about phase changes.