Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Why is pizza like the earth's crust?
A slice of pizza can be used as a model for the earth's crust. The earth consists of a Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, and Mesosphere. On a pizza, the cheese represents the oceanic crust (oceanic lithosphere) and the toppings represents the continental crust (continental lithosphere) that floats on top of the oceanic crust. It is thin and more dense than the sauce which simulates the asthenoshpere. Dough-simulates the mesosphere (the slides).
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tectonic Plates
The tectonic plates are composed of two types of crust- thicker continental and thin oceanic.
Tectonic plate interactions are of three different basic types. The boundaries can be continental/oceanic, continental/continental, or oceanic/oceanic depending on the density of the land itself.
Divergent boundaries-areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-oceanic ridges or rift valleys. (example-East African Great Rift Valley)
Convergent boundaries are areas where plates move toward each other and collide. These are also known as compressional or destructive boundaries. (example-The Himalayan Mnts.)
Transform boundaries- occur when two plates grind past each other with only limited convergent or divergent activity. (example-San Andreas Fault)
source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tectonic_plate_interactions) & by looking at the plate tectonic lab notes.
Tectonic plate interactions are of three different basic types. The boundaries can be continental/oceanic, continental/continental, or oceanic/oceanic depending on the density of the land itself.
Divergent boundaries-areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-oceanic ridges or rift valleys. (example-East African Great Rift Valley)
Convergent boundaries are areas where plates move toward each other and collide. These are also known as compressional or destructive boundaries. (example-The Himalayan Mnts.)
Transform boundaries- occur when two plates grind past each other with only limited convergent or divergent activity. (example-San Andreas Fault)
source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tectonic_plate_interactions) & by looking at the plate tectonic lab notes.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Where is Water?
Where is water? If all the water on Earth was worth $100, how would it be distributed?
Salt Water( Oceans)- $75
Frozen (Glaciers)- $5
Fresh Water- (Lakes, Rivers, Rain, Groundwater)- $20
Actual:
Oceans- $97.20
Frozen- $2.15
Ground Water- $0.62
Fresh Water Lakes- $0.09
Salt Water Lakes and Seas- $0.08
Variable-$0.07
Soil Moisture-$0.05
Atmosphere- $0.01
Streams- $0.0001
Wow, I was way off! I knew the oceans covered most of the Earth, but not 97%--and super surprised that the fresh water numbers are so low. I guess being surrounded by fresh water my whole life, I tend to think it's a huge amount:)
Salt Water( Oceans)- $75
Frozen (Glaciers)- $5
Fresh Water- (Lakes, Rivers, Rain, Groundwater)- $20
Actual:
Oceans- $97.20
Frozen- $2.15
Ground Water- $0.62
Fresh Water Lakes- $0.09
Salt Water Lakes and Seas- $0.08
Variable-$0.07
Soil Moisture-$0.05
Atmosphere- $0.01
Streams- $0.0001
Wow, I was way off! I knew the oceans covered most of the Earth, but not 97%--and super surprised that the fresh water numbers are so low. I guess being surrounded by fresh water my whole life, I tend to think it's a huge amount:)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Video Blog
While watching the video "Restless Landscapes" I learned some interesting things about sand, water and how landscapes are formed. I pretty much knew already that sand came from the erosion of mountains/rocks but it was super interesting to listen to the 4th/5th graders give their explainations of where they believe sand comes from and also when they answered the question about why mountain ranges look different. I guess I really never thought about the different sizes/shapes/ages of mountains. I knew they were formed when two techtonic plates smooshed together, but a large part of the size/shape of mountains are shaped from the sky-from water, wind & weathering. We learned a lot about the contents in this video from the last few chapters we've studied-I found I was able to connect with the material and comprehend it because I have a basic understanding about the different kinds of rock, the layering of rock and the chemical weathering process already.
A couple things I really liked from the video especially was the comparision of a glacier to a "conveyor belt"-how it picks up sediment, gravel, boulders, etc along the way and then deposits them-and that is in fact what we learned in the video about how Cape Cod was formed. I didn't know Cape Cod was all sand! That's really cool, and now I know why. Kind of crazy that scientists think it will be totally washed away in a few thousand years though. I liked the activity the teacher did with her students in learning about ground water as well. She modeled how to see it in the classroom by giving the students a bunch of rocks in a canister and then had them pour water into it-then you can see that the water is filling up all the spaces between the rocks-and also they used sponges (to model aquifers-rocks that can hold water). I think that is a great activity to do with students!
Lastly, I liked how they compared the earth's atmosphere as the "earths outer most layer" and stated it was kind of like "earth's blanket", protecting it from many things. I guess I never thought of the atmosphere as a layer of the earth, but it makes sense that it is since it plays such a huge role in everything that happens on earth. All in all, very cool video.
A couple things I really liked from the video especially was the comparision of a glacier to a "conveyor belt"-how it picks up sediment, gravel, boulders, etc along the way and then deposits them-and that is in fact what we learned in the video about how Cape Cod was formed. I didn't know Cape Cod was all sand! That's really cool, and now I know why. Kind of crazy that scientists think it will be totally washed away in a few thousand years though. I liked the activity the teacher did with her students in learning about ground water as well. She modeled how to see it in the classroom by giving the students a bunch of rocks in a canister and then had them pour water into it-then you can see that the water is filling up all the spaces between the rocks-and also they used sponges (to model aquifers-rocks that can hold water). I think that is a great activity to do with students!
Lastly, I liked how they compared the earth's atmosphere as the "earths outer most layer" and stated it was kind of like "earth's blanket", protecting it from many things. I guess I never thought of the atmosphere as a layer of the earth, but it makes sense that it is since it plays such a huge role in everything that happens on earth. All in all, very cool video.
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