Dan Glickman 2/4/13 Section A Jack Galvin

Modeling Mantle Convection Currents

Purpose: The experiment was performed to show the affects of the mantles convection currents on tectonic plates

Hypothesis: If the colder water comes in and makes convention currents with the hot water, then the plates will move because it is flowing and bringing the plates with the current.

Materials: Large plastic container Yellow and Blue food coloring Aluminum foil Plastic cup Cold and Hot tap water

Procedure: 1. The scientist filled a large plastic container halfway with hot water to 100 F/37 C

2. He put 5 drops of yellow food coloring into hot water 3. He ripped up and put small pieces of aluminum foil on surface of water 4. He filled small plastic cup with cold water 5. He put 3 drops of blue food coloring into cold water 6. He put small amounts of cold water in large container at intervals of 5 seconds 7. He repeated step 6 until the cold water ran out

Results:

In the trials, the scientists used hot and cold water to represent the affect of convection currents on the tectonic plates of the Earth. The scientists learned that by pouring in cold-water it mixed with the hot water and moved the plates unlike when the cold water wasnt being poured in. As more cold and hot water mixed and moved around, the plates were moving and mimicking natural occurrences such as a convergent plate boundary. Trial 1 None of the plates moved even as water was poured Trial 2 Drifting around as cold water was poured in Trial 3 One plate sank and then it floated back to the surface Trial 4 The plates all floated and were drifting around Trial 5 Two plates drifted into each other and collided

Movement

Beginning

Middle

End

Discussion:

The purpose of this experiment was to discover whether or not the convection currents in the lithosphere affect the plate tectonics on the surface. In the experiment we poured in cold water periodically to assess the movement of the plates as the waters created convection currents. Using food coloring to tell the difference between hot and cold water, the scientists were able to obtain the above data. The scientist believed that the convection currents affect the plates because they move in a cycle and carry the plates with them.

In the scientists representation of the Earth the crust was represented by aluminum foil ripped into different sizes, and the mantle was represented by the hot

and cold water. The experiment was a way to show movement of the crust through the convection currents in the mantle. The cold water mantle was poured in at intervening times so that it would create a current when it mixed with the hot water to move the plates. Eventually the two temperatures of water mixed, but before that the hot water was rising and the cold water sinking to create the current.

The tectonic plates used in the experiment had many different movements, which happen on a larger scale in plate boundaries. Two of the plates collided which could have represented the making of a trench or mountain. One of the plates sank beneath another one, which happens in situations of a convergent plate boundary. These movements were caused by the flow of convection currents in the water, and their reactions were similar to that of a plate tectonic over the mantle.

The different temperatures of the water made it rise and fall causing the currents to move in the way it did. Although the water was heated before being put into the experiment it is similar to the movement of the mantle because the cold water is poured in, starting a current because it sank as the hot water stayed relatively above the cold. The Earth however has a full cycle in which the hot water cools and sinks, which eventually happened because it mixed with the cold that could not be heated.

The scientists believe that this experiment was the best representation of the convection currents without using the Earths actual mantle. The design of the

scientists experiment would be exactly the same with no objections to its procedure or purpose. The experiment did however have some minor sources of error. To name them would be the extra force on the cold water when poured in, how hot the initial water should be, the added ingredients in food coloring, and the scale of which the water is represented to the mantle. This lab is applicable to life when in the presence of plate boundary or fault zones in which the plates have shifted.

Conclusion:

In the experiment the scientists hypothesis was accepted because the plates moved with the current of the mixing hot and cold water. The lab helped to predict how the movement occurs, and the scientist was right in that plates move as the mantle moves. I have completed this lab in accordance with the Newark Academy Honor Code. X_______________________________________________________________________________________________