Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Sorting rocks by diameter

Okay, so far, we separated a pile of rocks and sand into three equal piles, according to mass. One pile is labeled, "wind." Another, is "Mountain Stream," and the third, "Mass Movement."

Now then, starting with the wind pile. Students separated the pile according to diameter size and placed them in categories that include; boulder, cobble, pebble, gravel, very course sand, and course sand. The pile was weighed, the categories counted, and the sand weighed separately.

One rock was picked, weighed, an outline drawn, and it was painted with fingernail polish.

The pile and painted rock was placed in a plastic jar with a lid. A stopwatch was set for 3-minutes and the jar was shaken vigorously for three minutes. The painted rock is retrieved, weighed and outline drawn.

This process is repeated with mountain stream and mass movement.

Have a great night, folks.

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