Overall the practical went pretty great and went reasonably fast and easy to understand. It was simple to get the idea about tectonic plates and a practical look at what it should be like underground. Overall our group finished the practical very easily and had no problems at all completing it. We also ended up learning about Tectonic Plates and just a practical look at what their reaction with another plate is.

Questions

1. Compare the above tests with plate tectonics.

      This practical teaches us of a practical representation of what occurs when two tectonic plates collide.

1. The Stack of Paper had obvious layers. Assess whether rock has layers, and if so explain why.

Yes rocks do have layers. This is mainly due to sedimentary rocks which are basically when sediments form on a rock. This over time does create layers and also can explain how old a rock is. This is dependant on the amount of layers of sediments that the rock contains.

1. State which tests simulated the following collisions.

a)      A continental plate with another continental plate – Test 1

b)     An Oceanic Plate with another Oceanic Plate – Test 3

c)      An Oceanic Plate with a Continental Plate – Test 2

1. Identify a place on earth where each of these collision types occurs.

      A Place on the earth where these sort of incidents would occur is somewhere like Hawaii which is prone to volcanoes etc. There is only a need for tectonic plates colliding (continental or oceanic) to make any of the tests which we performed be real.

Overall in this practical we did at one point have a bit of confusion regarding the coloured strips. While the practical was successfully conducted we were confused as to how far apart we needed to have the strips and how the effect would relate to the spreading at the mid-ocean ridges considering the difference in length of each strip.

In the end we ended up learning the relationship between the strips and mid-ocean ridges and the earth’s surface in general.

Q1. Explain how this activity relates to the spreading at the mid-ocean ridges.

This activity gets us to model and recreate the mid-ocean spreading of the tectonic plates. By modeling it out we get a general idea of the process

Q2. Identify what in your model represents each of the following:

a) Ocean Floor -

b) The Water

c) Lava Flow

d) Gravity

e) Mid-Ocean Ridge

f) Magnetic Strips found in rocks parallel to mid-ocean ridges

Refer to Diagram

Q3. Describe what you noticed about the height of the paper as it emerged from the gap compared to the paper further out.

I noticed that the height of the paper as it emerged began to increase and demonstrate how mountains emerge from the rock inside the earth and grow.

Q4. Identify which of the strips you coloured would be the ‘oldest’ and which the ‘youngest’ rock.

The strip closest would be the newest while the strip coloured furthest away from the middle were the older rocks

Q5. Identify which of these strips would be the first to be swallowed by an ocean trench.

The strip which would be the first to be swallowed by an ocean trench would be the one closest to the middle as it is closer to the ocean

Q1. Explain what causes convection currents

Convection Currents are the result of the movement of heat moving from a hot region to a cold region. They are mainly caused through the unequal heat in both liquids and gases.

Q2. Use a diagram to clarify what a ‘hot’ current does.

Q3. Identify the direction of a ‘cold’ current.

The direction of a cold current is primarily straight as the warm air changes from hot to cold.