Well, the Hydrosphere, of course! This week the students had three experiments.
Before they started their labs, they played an ice breaker game. I think they enjoyed the downtime. =)
Our narrator for the day was...Samuel!
Before they started their labs, they played an ice breaker game. I think they enjoyed the downtime. =)
Our narrator for the day was...Samuel!
Experiment 5.1: Evaporation, Condensation, and Precipitation
First, the students filled a pan with water and placed it on the stove to heat. They added some salt an stirred to dissolve. Leslie tried the salt water for us. Yum!
Once the water began to boil, they placed a bowl beside the pan, placed an oversized lid on the pan, and placed a bag of ice on the lid. When the water vapor from the boiling water hit the lid, the coolness of the ice caused the water to turn back into liquid. This process is called condensation. The water droplets then ran into the bowl that was placed beside the pan. This represented precipitation.
Noah was our good sport and tasted the water that ran into the bowl (sorry, no picture) and it tasted nothing like saltwater, therefore the bowl of water represented a freshwater source. Pretty neat!
Experiment 5.2 : Ice and Salt
The students put a piece of ice on a plate and piled some salt on top of it. What do you think happened?
The salt burrowed a hole in the ice, melting it relatively quick. Why?
Because salt water freezes at a lower temperature that does pure water.
*Note : There was another part of the experiment that did not get completed due to time constraints. I hope the students were able to complete that experiment on their own, at home.
Experiment 5.3 : Cloud Formation
The students filled a 2-liter bottle with 1/8th's warm water, placed the
lid on tightly and squeezed the bottle tightly with both hands.
Leslie was holding on TIGHT! Note her expression. :)
Also note, nothing exciting happened.
Then...the students took the lid off, lit a match, dropped the match into the bottle, and replaced the lid. They squeezed the bottle again and this time, a fog appeared, a cloud. This is a demonstration of Adiabatic
cooling - The cooling of a gas that happens when the gas expands with no way of getting more energy.
On clear, calm nights, this type of cooling can drop the temperature to the dew point at which point fog forms.
Next module is about Earth and the Lithosphere!
