9/29 Density Comparison and Water Displacement

Today in sience class, we went to explorelearning to see how the volume of an object would affect the volume of the water. When you drop an object into a beaker thats filled with water, water that is pushed out is the mass of the object in the water.

Class September 27, 2011

In class today we are working on density. Yesterday we calculated the density of candy bars of our choice to see how accurate we could get. Now we are doing a worksheet with 10 problems asking to find the density of something or asking us to find the mass if the density is 15.34g/cm3 and the volume is 45.765g
cm3. We did a gizmo over the overhead on density that has us finding the density of objects given and then determine if they would float in water. We had to take a quiz on the back of the worksheet that we got over the gizmo. Then we unwrapped a bunch of candy and dropped them in a beaker of water to see if they would float. But if we got our measurements right we get to eat the candy bars!

River Formation Experiement

In this experiment my group and I wanted to see how the type of dirt (compacted or loose) and animals would affect the formation on rivers. We used 50mL of water on the both of the experiments.

To see how the types of dirt affected river flow we used diatomaceous earth. We broke up the dirt in order to make the loose dirt but kept some of the dirt still compacted together. After we had all the dirt the way we wanted it, we poured the water into the dirt to see which one made the most erosion. When we were done pouring all the water into the tub we look at the results and found out that with more compact dirt, the river would flow longer but not as deep, and with the loose dirt we found that the river would form shorter but much deeper.

To see how animals affected how the formation of water, we took plato and made little animals and put them in the way that we thought the river would flow. We used 50mL of water for this experment as well. After pouring all the water we found that the animals didnt have any difference in the formation of water. The water just went right around the animal and then went back on its normal route.

For my experiment we took 15 cups of diotamatios earth and mixed it with 14 cups of water. We mixed it untill there were no puddles in it. We let it sit for a night and then we mixed it again the next day. We then put two magnetic stirs in it to represent an earthquake. We left them on for 20 seconds. When we turned it off we noticed that it had made a couple of puddles but not enough damage to form a river. We thought that there would need to be heavy precipitation to form some sort of begining of a river.

*Bergndi's aMaZiNg River Experiment*

*For my River Experiment, I worked with Madeline & Bret! We had two hypotheses and tested them:) Both of our hypotheses' were correct! It was a fairly easy experiment & very interesting. Our first hypothesis was, If the dirt is more compacted, then the water runs off and doesnt soak in. This proved to be true. Our second hypothesis was, Animals affect the way rivers and other bodies of water form. This also was true. We set up our experiments by using, Playdoh, Diatomaceous Earth,& water. In the first experiement, we made a slope with the softened diatomaceous earth. Then we poured water on it, seeing if a "lake" would form. When the dirt was more compacted, the water ran off not making much of a lake. However, once we loosened the earth, a lake formed. In our second experiment, Madeline, Bret, and I made animals out of playdoh and stuck them into our diatomaceous earth. Then, we tilted the container a little, and poured the water into it, showing that animals do in fact the way rivers are formed!*

River Formation Experiment

Recently in science class we have been doing river formation experiments with diatomaceous earth. We mixed it up the first day and then let it sit and even out until the next day. We mixed it again to get rid of all the puddles in it. Once we leveled it out again we did a flat experiment. We left the tub flat on the counter and poured water onto one point. It eroded a small hole where the water was coming down but then it would even out and spread smoothly. Then we drained and filtered the water and tried the experiment again but with one side lifted up. The water again dug out a hole where it was pouring onto it then quickly dug out a line all the way down the tub like a river. The next day we put in water beakers to act like buildings and tried it at an elevation. the water didn't move as fast but made small tributaries around the "buildings." After draining and filtering again we put in foam blocks acting as a dam across most of the tub. We found that the water quickly goes to the dam the slowly goes around then speeds up to the bottom of the tub. It formed a small river in the opening of the dam but then it went away and the water just spread out freely.

breannas river experiment

For the first river experiment we wanted to know if people can change the flow of a river by making dams. To test this we took Styrofoam and made a dam. The water flow did not change much from the dam. The water flow was not changed by the dam because the dam broke and had holes in it. You could tell that if there had not been holes in the Styrofoam and it had been more steady it would have changed the water flow. My group and I all agreed that people can change the flow of water by making dams.








For the second river experiment we tested to see if people change the flow of water by throwing trash on the ground and in rivers and lakes. To test this we put little things in the diatomaceous earth and poured water on it. The trash did not change the flow of the water but the water did take the trash along with it.

science 9 river testing

I had two hypotheses on what caused the formation of rivers. The first hypothesis is how do buildings and new developement effect the formation of rivers. We put styrapoam in the middle of the tub and the styafoam acted as the buildings. We poured he water down at an angle and it made tributaries around the buildings so now we know that buildings an new dievelopemnt do effect the formation of riers. The second hypothesis was if dams reroute rivers. Are two hypotheses are similiar, but still they are a little bit different. We found out the same result as the first hypothesis and that it did reroute the river.

Earthquakes and Rivers

In my Science 9 class we did an experiment to see if seismic activity affected river formation. My pod and I used diatomateous soil and magnetic sturrers. The magnetic sturrers were to help replicate an earthquake. To test our hypothesis (seismic activity affects river formation), we put the magnetic sturrers underneath the soft, moist soil and turned the sturrers on. When we turned on the sturrers, not much happenned around them. There were only a few crevices and craters, but no "rivers". We also noticed that all the surface water that was on the soil stayed to the edges of the tub. We did this 2 times and we got the same exact results, and we tested them far longer than a normal earthquake, which only lasts a few seconds. So my pod and I came to the conclusion that earthquakes have very little or no affect on river formation, and for river formation to happen from the earthquake there must be a flow of water in the area of the cracks in the earth (soil).

Meg's River Experiment!:)

Hypothesis #1: We believe that people effect the formations of rivers.
Steps #1: We mixed the diatomacious earth and water together, to make a sand-like mixture. Then we put action figures, little cars, and graduated cylinders (to act like buildings), into the mixture. Then we moved the containor of mix side to side to see if the 'obstacles' would be aneffect to where a river can form.
Conclusion #1:In conclusion, putting 'people', 'buildings', and 'cars' in the mix where we put them, you mostly saw little areas where a small creek was forming...Espeacially by the buildings, not so much around the cars though.

Hypothesis #2: We believe that seismic activity could effect the formation of rivers.
Steps #2: We made up our diatomacious earth and water mixture. Then we put the magnets in two areas of our mixing tub. Then we put our tub on top of the magnetic stirrir to make an "earthquake". We watched as the magnets spun around and made more of a dip in the mix more than river.
Conclusion #2: In conclusion, seismic activity may or may not be a factor to forming a river. In our experiment only a little dip was made, but in real life, you would think thatg if an earthquake was to happen and it was strong enough a rift would be made..and so would a river.

River formation experiment!!

Experiment #1:

This was a very interesting experiment. My group (Wyatt, Meg, Neal, myself) came up with the hypothesis of this: We believe that people affect the formation of a river. We figured this because of all the pollution, litter, construction, etc. going on all over the world. We began our experiment. We mixed up the diatomaceous earth first and foremost. Then, we placed toy structures, people, and cars. After pouring water over the diatomaceous earth, we observed. The objects in the earth caused small rivers to form from them. In conclusion, our hypothesis was correct, and people do affect the formation of rivers. We were not surprised by the outcome of his experiment. We figured exactly what happened!

Experiment 2:

In this experiment, my group tested how earthquakes affect river formation. Our hypothesis was this: We believe that earthquakes affect the formation of rivers. Here's our experiment: First, we mixed up the diatomaceous earth until it was nice and smooth once again. Next, we buried magnetic stirrers in the earth. After this, we put the container over the stirring machine, creating an effect much like seismic waves. We stopped the machine, and made observations. We noticed that there were no rivers or streams that were made. Really, there weren't even "lakes" or "ponds." I would describe the change more as some kind of ground level difference such as a crater/rift of some sort. In conclusion, our hypothesis was incorrect. Earthquakes really don't affect the formation of a river. We were very surprised by the outcome. We thought it would create large cracks and lakes, but no. It barely even created a breach in the earth.

Written by: Shelby W.

Formation of Rivers Experiment

For these experiments, I worked with Bergndi and Bret. The three of us decided on two different variables that may affect the formation of rivers.

First Experiment:
Our first hypothesis was: If the dirt is more compacted, the water will not soak in as much as it will for the loose dirt.

We set up our experiment by putting diatomaceous earth and water in a tub and mixed them together to get the soil we were going to use. From there we found where half of the tub was and kept one half compacted and loosened the other half. Then, we poured 5 mL of water onto each half.

Our observations were:
Loose dirt - larger lake, formed a somewhat skinny river, lots of water soaked in to the dirt.
Compacted dirt - small lake, very wide river, not as much water soaked in.

Our conclusion for this experiment was that with dirt less compacted , a lake will form. With more compacted dirt, a river will form, since the water can't soak in as much.

Second Experiment:
Our second hypothesis was: With animals in the way, the river will have to find a way around these animals and their homes.

We set up this experiment by first using the same diatomaceous earth from our other experiment (but with the same amount of compaction.) Next, we used play Play-Doh to represent the animals and their homes. Once we finished that, we poured 10 mL of water into the tub.

Our observations were:
The river goes around the animals and their homes. The water makes an island of them.

Our conclusion for this experiment was that the river will continue to flow, but animals and their homes may deflect the path.

Do Earth quakes effect river formation?

In my experiement i tested to see if earthquakes effect the form of rivers. Once we mixed up the diatamatous earth we evenly spreaded it through out the container. We then put in two magnetic stirs. We let them spin for 20 seconds, and then we turned them off. We noticed that there was a little puddle where it the magnets were. In conclusion earthquakes are more likely to cause ponds and lakes unless there is a strong water current pushing the lake or pond along. If that is the case then it could cause a river to form.

What can change the formation of a river?

In one of my experiment we tested if buildings changed the formation of a river. We believed that the water will go around the buildings. The water went around the buildings and formed tributaries around them to the bottom. The water didn't mess with the diatomaceous earth in line with the buildings but it did on the sides. Both of our hypotheses we were close to what happened in our experiments. Our other hypothesis was that we believed that the water would reroute when it hit the styrofoam dams. We were correct because we left a little bit of the side open so the water could flow but it would have to change direction before continuing down the hill. The dam withheld the water and it rerouted to the side and continued to flow down the tube.

Madison's River Experiment

In class the last experiment we did was to see how certain things would effect rivers. My group decided to test how people and trash effected rivers.





My groups hypothesis was that if trash was in the water or near the water, and the current carries it away it could change the path of the river or the formation. To set up our experiment we set the tub of diatomaceous earth up a few inches. We used Styrofoam as a substitute for trash. We discovered that the river's path didn't change but it did carry the trash all the way to the bottom.





Our hypothesis to see how people affected rivers, was if we built a dam it would make the water shift and take a new path. To set this experiment up we set the tub of diatomaceous earth up a few inches, and built a dam with Styrofoam and then poured water in. When we poured the water in there were too many cracks so the experiment wasn't a good experiment. The water did make a little stream coming through the dam, but if there wasn't and cracks all the water could have stayed on one side.