Meteors Asteroids Experiment with Making Craters
Experiment with making craters using flour and colored powders.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Week's Experiment - #278 Make a Crater
This week's experiment was going to be something about rain until my
imagination was caught by the news of the near miss that Earth had recently
with a fairly large asteroid. That got me thinking about our visit to Meteor
Crater in Arizona, which reminded me of this experiment. To learn about
craters, you will need:
a large bowl or baking pan. Do not use glass.
flour or cake mix
some different colored powder
several objects to drop into the flour
If you are doing this inside, first cover the area with some newspaper. That
will make it MUCH easier to clean up afterwards. Place baking pan on the
paper and put at least two inches of flour into it. If your kitchen cabinet
is like ours, there is probably an old bag of flour somewhere in the back
that needs to be replaced anyway. If you don't have flour, you can also use
cake mix, corn meal, etc. IMPORTANT! Ask before you do this. It would be a
bad thing to use the last of the flour when someone was planning to use it
for something important, like a chocolate cake!
Use a fork to smooth the top of the flour. Now we want to sprinkle some diffe
rent colored powder on the top. If you used flour, you can top it with cocoa
powder, pepper, turmeric, etc. If you used a dark cake mix, you can top it
with a sprinkle of flour or powdered sugar. You do not have to cover the top
with this powder. You just need a light dusting, so you can see where the
flour is thrown outwards.
Pick an object to be your asteroid. This could be a marble, a small rock, a
coin, a grape, etc. In fact, you can experiment with different objects to
see whether they make different features in the crater. Hold the asteroid
about waist high and drop it into the center of the pan.
Look at the crater. Then look at some photos of real craters. You can find
some on these sites:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-moon.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010809.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010108.html
To repeat the experiment, smooth the surface and add another sprinkle of the
cocoa powder. Try dropping several objects to see whether you can see
features which would tell you which object hit first. Try throwing an object
from the side to see whether it forms a different pattern. Compare the
crater from an object dropped from a low point with the crater from a fast
moving object. After you practice a bit, leave the room and have someone
make several craters. Then come back and see how much you can figure out by
looking at the patterns. Then look at some of the photos of the moon craters
and see what you can figure out from them.
From Robert Krampf's Science Education Company
PO Box 60982
Jacksonville, FL 32236-0982
904-388-6381
krampf@aol.com
|
|
|
|
Nicholas Academy Index
|
|
Artists, wars, armour, castle games, recipes, geography, quizzes, fashions, pictures of weapons, music, old world maps, women of medieval times, medicine, language, and more.
|
Arabic, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Russian. Games, free software downloads, free online lessons, newspapers, discussion groups, articles, history, culture, quizzes.
|
Play language arts games, improve your vocabulary, create customized puzzles, make your own book! Download free software in the form of shareware, freeware, and demos.
|
Math games, quizzes, fun websites, printable charts, coloring books, tools. Algebra, geometry, fractions, multiplication.
|
Play music games, take free music lessons, explore music theory and history, find great posters.
|
|
Explore animation, filmmaking, build online cities, create and share works of art, write stories, create your own web site, read creativity articles.
|
Science games and quizzes, fun science websites, posters, coloring books, kits, experiments, forensics labs and more.
|
Coloring books, countries of the world, games and quizzes, software downloads, posters, computer jigsaw puzzles, printables.
|
Science can be fun and understandable. Free Experiment of the Week, featuring experiments that are unusual, safe, dramatic, cheap, and fun. From Robert Kramp's Science Education Co.
|
Fun and affordable space items for kids, including toys, games, kits, food products, and more.
|
|
Educational science kits kids will love! Early science kit, DNA explorer kit, robot challenge, forensic lab, volcano kits, crystals.
|
All in one project labs, light kits, sound kits, motion and metal detectors, clap on/off kit, nerve tester and shocker.
|
Civil rights, African American writers, parts of speech, medieval, periodic table of elements, music, astronomy, world maps with flags, literature, poetry, dinosaurs, biology, cats, Japanese anime.
|
Coloring books for kids and adults. Civil war, plants, animals, states, middle ages, cultures, geometric designs, puzzles.
|
Online, via email or through the regular mail. College, accredited high school, free reading and phonics courses, foreign language, history, religion, and more.
|
|
Test your knowledge with these fast, fun, and educational quizzes. Roman numeral addition, world capitals, presidents in order, the elements, world flags, and more.
|
Roman numerals, addition, multiplication, order of statehood, state and world capitals, order of presidents, chemical elements, parts of speech, spanish numbers.
|
Reading systems, loan programs, flashcard, worksheet and test makers, game creators, board games, percentage calculator, puzzle creator, timeline template.
|
SAT, GED, ACT, practice tests, exam preparation. Standardized test practice, content standards listed by state, sample items, scope and sequence, aptitude, essential skills.
|
New and used low cost books and textbooks. Websites with open source books and loan programs.
|
|
Templates, ideas for personal, educational, children's, business sites, design tips and tools, registration and hosting information, step-by-step instructions, quick and easy web page, web building just for kids.
|
Books, posters, videos, software kits, curriculum, courses. Save on teaching supplies, receive free educational materials.
|
This site map lists nearly every page on our site, along with a short description.
|
|
|
|
Educational Poster Store
Hundreds of educational posters in different subject areas. Parts of speech, medieval, solar system, biology, world maps, Einstein, Martin Luther King. Science, math, literature, art, music, english, geography, social studies. If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, this is great to browse for ideas.
|
NASA Website Links
Educational resources include worksheets such as mazes, coloring pages, shuttle model instructions, crossword puzzles, space food tray instructions and grocery list, and more. See the Space Station Sky Watch, view a NASA Astronaut Application or the Space Shuttle Launch Schedule, learn about the U.S. Space Camp and Women in Spaceflight.
|
Zoobooks
Get a free Zoobooks issue and a tiger poster. Zoobooks are the all-in-one, everything-you-wanted-to-know but-didn’t-know-who-to-ask guide to the world’s most fascinating animals, birds, reptiles, and insects. For kids five to twelve.
|
|
