Modeling Continental drift?

Question

I want to model the continental drift for my science exit project. It is related to plate tectonics, where the earth's surface moves its land masses.What experiment can I do for a visual? Thank you for any help--I'll vote for anyone who makes an attempt to answer it=)

Answer 1

I saw one science project years ago that just did one boundary zone. They had taken some powdery substance and layered an inch or so thick on bolts of cloth, possibly old bedsheets. I think they may have dampened the powder so it would cake together slightly.

One sheet was stationary on a piece of plywood, and the other went through a shallow angled and thin slot right at the edge of the first sheet, so it would slowly dive under the first and scrape the caked power off. They had a crank that the second sheet wrapped around under the table that very slowly pulled the sheet. As they did, a mini-mountain range formed at the boundary of the two sheets. They removed the "mountains" quite a few times for more performances.

Maybe you could adapt that idea to work for you somehow.

I thought it was a pretty unique science project, but they didn't have much material to go with it so they were beat out by a kid with marbles set up to represent an atomic chain reaction and another with a miniature tornado over a pan of hot water in a box.

Answer 2

Get a small fish tank with a water pump. Fill it to about 10 inches deep, then add about one inch of lighter-thank-water oil, such as vegetable oil. Finally, add thin blocks of wood cut into the shape of the continents. Position the air, water pump in the middle, so that the bubbles come up in the center of the tank. The bubbles will cause a vertical circulation of the water. The moving water will in turn cause the oil and the wooden blocks to move. This will simulate the movement of the earth's tectonic plates. The earth's crust, like the oil, is lighter than the molten interior.

Answer 3

Continental drift is no longer an accepted theory. You need make sure you only talk about plate tectonics.

Unless you are being asked to illustrated it as a precursor to plate tectonics.

Do you have to model mantle convection? I would just make some simple clay "continents" and illustrate simple rock types with colours and show how Wegner made his correlation.

Answer 4

no longer purely that, yet scientists estimated from evolution that the only islands that could desire to have non-flying, non-swimming existence on them are the islands that have broken off of a continent (that have been all as quickly as component to the only super continent Pangaea). and beneficial sufficient, while they went to income, they got here across that volcanic islands (islands which arose in the midst of the sea from underground volcanoes) had purely birds, bugs, and each so often marine mammals as indigenous species. that they had no indigenous mammals, lizards, or freshwater fish - precisely what you may assume if evolution have been authentic as antagonistic to creationism. The vegetation are purely the form that have seeds that decide on the flow or could be eaten by using birds (and carried to islands). great trees are non existent on volcanic islands because of the fact their seeds oftentimes sink - aside from coconuts, for sure. There are some situations of indigenous lizards and mammals on volcanic islands, yet those probably have been given there by using drifting on floating trees as has been witnessed happening in cutting-edge situations. those situations are so few as to mirror the rarity of such activities happening.