Download Lab_Earth`s_Layers

Science 8
Activity- Layers of the Earth
Instructions
Purpose: to show the earth and its layers to scale.
Materials: large sheet of paper, 60 cm string, cardboard scraps, thumbtack, colored pencils or
crayons, 0.5 meter stick
Background and Data: The Earth to an average person is large but few appreciate how big it is. We
will draw it to scale. Our scale Earth radius will be about 50 cm. The Earth has a radius of 6,371
km. Each of our measurements will relate to this proportion: 6371 km: 50 cm.
Therefore: 127.42 km : 1cm
Layer
Inner Core
Outer Core
Mantle
Crust
Thickness
Scale
Thickness
1200 km
2250 km
2900 km
5-40 km
9.4 cm
17.6 cm
22.8 cm
0.04-0.32 cm
Scale
Cumulative
Thickness
9.4 cm
27.0 cm
49.8 cm
50.0 cm
Density
Temperature
13 g/cm3
10-12g/cm3
4.6-5.4g/cm3
2.5-3g/cm3
4500oC
3200oC
700-2800oC
0-700oC
Procedure:
1) Put a dot at one corner of your paper, this will be your starting point.
2) From your dot, measure and mark the scale cumulative thickness to show the boundaries for
the inner core, outer core, and mantle.
3) Measure and cut the string about 60 cm. Tie one end of the string to the thumbtack.
4) Put in your thumbtack at your starting point and put cardboard under it to hold it in place.
5) Use the string to draw a quarter circle at each of the boundaries marked in #3, but do not use
this for the crust. Have your partners hold the paper and the thumbtack.
6) By hand, draw in the thickness of the crust. It can vary from less than .5 mm to 3 mm.
7) Color appropriately.
8) Use the markers to label each layer. Show the thickness, density and temperature.
From texts, found out and label the composition of the layers.
9) Make a legend and show the scale
10) On your paper write some observations. Note: The oceanic crust is about 5 km thick and the
continental crust is about 40 km thick. If necessary, write a disclaimer about the thickness of
the crust on your drawing. Is it really right to scale?
11) Along the surface of the earth, show the distance between Pickens and Columbia, SC and
New York City to scale. Columbia- 160 km- 1.3 cm. NYC- 1000 km- 7.8 cm. How do these
distances compare to the size of the earth or thickness of the crust?
12) We have never drilled through the crust, could we ever drill to the core?
Lab: Earth’s Layers
ver. 3.3
6/28/17