I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but my daughter did an experiment yesterday that really put it into perspective. We used about 1/4 cup of water and 10 TBS of cornstarch, stirred in one TBS at a time. By the last couple of tablespoons, it got pretty hard to stir. Then she tried to put a spoon down into the "putty rock". If she let the spoon slip slowly into the mixture, it went down into it. Slowly pulling it out was no problem either. But if she tried to force the spoon down into it, it was hard and did not go down very far. When she tried to force the spoon out quickly, it was also difficult to pull out. This shows the way that rock inside the earth can function as both a liquid and a solid. When moved slowly, it flows easily, when forced, it cracks and breaks.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Did You Know Magma is Liquid Rock?
Did you know magma is liquid rock?
I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but my daughter did an experiment yesterday that really put it into perspective. We used about 1/4 cup of water and 10 TBS of cornstarch, stirred in one TBS at a time. By the last couple of tablespoons, it got pretty hard to stir. Then she tried to put a spoon down into the "putty rock". If she let the spoon slip slowly into the mixture, it went down into it. Slowly pulling it out was no problem either. But if she tried to force the spoon down into it, it was hard and did not go down very far. When she tried to force the spoon out quickly, it was also difficult to pull out. This shows the way that rock inside the earth can function as both a liquid and a solid. When moved slowly, it flows easily, when forced, it cracks and breaks.
I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but my daughter did an experiment yesterday that really put it into perspective. We used about 1/4 cup of water and 10 TBS of cornstarch, stirred in one TBS at a time. By the last couple of tablespoons, it got pretty hard to stir. Then she tried to put a spoon down into the "putty rock". If she let the spoon slip slowly into the mixture, it went down into it. Slowly pulling it out was no problem either. But if she tried to force the spoon down into it, it was hard and did not go down very far. When she tried to force the spoon out quickly, it was also difficult to pull out. This shows the way that rock inside the earth can function as both a liquid and a solid. When moved slowly, it flows easily, when forced, it cracks and breaks.
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2 comments:
That's an interesting way to illustrate it!
it turned out pretty cool! I have been working on putting together a video of it to post, but am having trouble getting internet service!! (I am at my parent's now)
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