Sugar Shake Data Sheet

1. Draw what your sugar cube looks like

before doing anything to it:

2. What do you think your sugar cube will look like after it has been shaken 200 times?
Draw your best guess here:

EXPLAIN why you drew your sugar cube different after 200 shakes: What changed? Why?

3. How many edges does a sugar cube have? _____________

 Trial # Shake this many Describe the shape of How many edges still
times: the sugar cubes you have some color?
shook. How did they
change?
#1 Shake your cubes 40
times!

#2 Shake your cubes 40

Switch jobs with times!
partner!

#3 Shake your cubes 40

Switch jobs with times!
partner!

#4 Shake your cubes 40

Switch jobs with times!
partner!

#5 Shake your cubes 40

times!
4. You’ve done 5 trials of 40 shakes each. That’s 200 shakes! What do the sugar cubes
look like now? Draw one in the box:

5. Does your drawing match your guess in question number 2? YES or NO

6. What happened to the sugar cubes when they bashed together in the container? How do
they look different from the one that you left out of the container, and didn’t shake? Is
this weathering or erosion?

7. When you take the sugar cubes out of the container, what’s left in the container? Where
did that come from? If you washed this away in nature (maybe wind or rain), what would
this process be similar to?

8. What do you think would happen if you actually shook rocks instead of sugar cubes?
*Remember: the sugar cubes were a model for rocks
9. How many more shakes do you think it would take to make the sugar cubes really round
(like a marble)? ____________________________