ShareRocks & Minerals - Need aLittle Change?
How big were you when you were born? Surely not the size you are now, and next year you will have changed from what you are today. You have had to undergo small changes, learning to hold your head up, sitting, crawling, and eventually walking to get where you are now. It didn’t happen overnight, but by small gradual changes you have changed. Earth can change in the same way.
With all of the small changes (earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides) happening on Earth’s surface over time, they can add up to produce big changes (mountains and valleys). Small movements from earthquakes can rise up mountains or create rift valleys, and because they are so little it takes along time to notice them. What Earth looks like now to us will look different to people in thousands of years!
The following links help you can make your own models of small changes that can add up to large ones follow each link below and have fun!
Faults: Scroll down the page and print the paper model. Then follow the directions on the paper model assembly contructions. This will illustrate how an earthquake can change the area near the fault at which it occurs.
Landslides: Print out the model and see how a landslide can change the area near it!
Now that you have done a couple of paper models showing how Earth's surface can change, it's time to have some fun with change! Glaciers are frozen ice masses. Over long periods of time, they slowly melt and move. Scientists see the results of this movement but usually do not actually see evidence that movement happening. You can model the effect of a glacier on the Earth's surface by doing the following activity.
Materials:
- Large cookie sheet
- Six cookies (your choice)
- Candy bar (regular size not the BIG SIZE!)
- Chocolate, butterscotch, or caramel topping
- Two scoops of ice cream
- Plastic sandwich size bag
- Spoon
- Bowl (optional)
Procedure:
- Crumble your cookies and place onto the cookie sheet.
- Break your candy bar into three or four pieces
- Swirl the topping of your choice over the cookies and candy bar.
- Place your two ice cream scoops on top of the mixture you created.
- Put your hand into the plastic bag and slowly push down on the ice cream.
Safety concerns: 
Be sure to follow all chemical safety rules that are specified by your teacher in all general laboratory
experiences. As with all science lab activities, the most important safety
rule is to follow all teacher directions.
Analysis:
- What happened to the crumbled cookies and the candy bar as you pressed on the ice cream?
- When a glacier moves, it can move large rocks that are in its way. What part of your model represents the large rocks?
- As a glacier moves, it picks up small pebbles that are underneath it. What part of your model represents these small pebbles?
- During movement, a glacier rubs the dirt off of the ground. What part of your model represented the dirt?
Now you can use the spoon and eat your glacier!
