Lesson 38 of 84 · Weather and Climate
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🌋 Rock RealmWeathering: Breaking Down Rocks (Part 2)
Weather and Climate.
🎯 Your mission
Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.
⚡ The twist
The slowest changes are the biggest ones.
Mind = Blown
🪨 Every grain of sand on every beach used to be a mountain.
Make a hypothesis first
Predict: which will erode faster?
What You'll Learn
The rock cycle shows how rocks change from one type to another. Igneous rocks form from cooled magma, sedimentary rocks form from compressed sediment, and metamorphic rocks form under heat and pressure.
Key Words
- earthquake
- volcano
Materials Needed
- newspaper
- spray bottle
- cups
- thermometer
- rain gauge
- cotton balls
Safety First
- Tie back long hair before starting the experiment.
- Protect your work surface with newspaper or plastic.
- Adult supervision recommended.
Steps
Read the introduction and identify the main idea of this lesson.
Test rock hardness using Mohs scale: try scratching rocks with your fingernail, a penny, and a nail. Rank them from softest to hardest.
Use your senses (except taste) to describe what you notice.
Write a summary of your findings in 3-5 sentences.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3What causes weathering?
Where you see this in real life
This is shaping the ground you walk on, slowly, every single day.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Find a rock outside and try to guess how old it is.
For the dinner table
“What's the slowest change you can think of?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
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