Download and

Name:________________________________________________________________Date:____________Period:______
Convection Lab
A. Pre-Lab Questions:
1. What question are we trying to answer?__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. List what you already know about the way the tectonic plates move:
3. So, how is heat from the earth’s core getting to where the tectonic plates are? __________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is convection? ___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What are convection currents in plate tectonics? This is where ________
________ from deep
within the Earth ____________ while ______________
____________ near the surface ______________.
6. After viewing the candle video clip, explain what the air was doing above the candle’s flame: ____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Lab Procedure:
1) Take the temperature of the water in the clear cup, and record it in the data table below.
2) PREDICT what you think will happen when you place the ice cube in the water:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2) WHEN INSTRUCTED gently place the colored ice cube into the water.
3) DO NOT disturb the beaker of water. You don’t want to
mix the water.
4) As it starts to melt watch the direction the dye travels.
5) After the ice cube has melted take the temperature of
the surface of the water and the bottom of the water.
(See the diagram to the right)
C. After the lab, complete the following blanks:
WHAT HAPPENED?
1. Where you right in what your group thought would happen?
2. DRAW what the dyed ice cube in the water looked like as it melted:
3. WHAT was sinking to the bottom of your cup? _______________________ Why?
4.
5. PREDICT what the temperature of the water will be in about an hour:
at the surface:_______________ at the bottom:____________
Thinking back to the projection of a candle’s shadow…
Slide 75: When a candle burns, _________________________________________- rise above
the flame. We are not able to see them, however, without special help like the light from a
projector. Convection is the transfer of heat by the _________________________ of the
heated parts of a liquid or gas.
Slide 76: When air is heated, its molecules actually bump into each other, spreading them
farther apart and creating __________________________. Think about magma in the mantle:
When magma is heated by touching the hot core below it, the magma will
______________________.
Slide 77: After the magma cools, it will ___________ back down again to the
______________, just like the cold water from your ice cube ___________ to the bottom of
your cup. The core will again ______________ the magma, and the magma will again
_____________. The up and down, _____________and ______________ motions of
the___________ causes the tectonic plates to __________________.
Complete your diagram by labeling the blanks.
KEY
Convection Lab
a. Pre-Lab Questions:
1. What question are we trying to answer? HOW DO THE TECTONIC PLATES MOVE
2. List what you already know about the way the tectonic plates move:
-HEAT FROM THE EARTH’S CORE PROVIDES THE ENERGY FOR THE PLATES TO MOVE
-THE PLATES ARE ALWAYS MOVING
3. So, how is heat from the earth’s core getting to where the tectonic plates are?
__________________________
THE HEAT IS TRANSFERRED…SPECIFICALLY THROUGH CONDUCTION (TOUCHING) AND CONVECTION (MOVING)
4. What is convection?
___________________________________________________________________________
the transfer of heat by the circulation or movement of the heated parts of a liquid or gas.
5. What are convection currents in plate tectonics? This is where ________
________ from deep
within the Earth ____________ while ______________
____________ near the surface ______________.
6. After viewing the candle video clip, explain what the air was doing above the candle’s flame: CONVECTION CURRENTS
ARE ABOVE THE HEAT SOURCE, THE FLAME. THE AIR ABOVE THE FLAME IS BEING HEATED, AND RISES, AND THEN AS IT
COOLS, IT SINKS BACK DOWN AGAIN.
B. Lab Procedure:
1) Take the temperature of the water in the clear cup, and record it in the data table below.
2) PREDICT what you think will happen when you place the ice cube in the water:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2) WHEN INSTRUCTED gently place the colored ice cube into the water.
3) DO NOT disturb the beaker of water. You don’t want to
mix the water.
4) As it starts to melt watch the direction the dye travels.
5) After the ice cube has melted take the temperature of
the surface of the water and the bottom of the water.
(See the diagram to the right)
C. After the lab, complete the following blanks:
WHAT HAPPENED?
6. Where you right in what your group thought would happen?
7. DRAW what the dyed ice cube in the water looked like as it melted:
8. WHAT was sinking to the bottom of your cup? COLD WATER Why? COLD WATER, AND COLD AIR ALIKE SINK
BECAUSE THEIR MOLECULES ARE PACKED MORE TIGHTLY TOGETHER (THEY ARE DENSER)
9. PREDICT what the temperature of the water will be in about an hour:
at the surface- SAME TEMP AS at the bottom BC of law of thermo equilibrium
Thinking back to the projection of a candle’s shadow…
Slide 75: When a candle burns, CONVECTION CURRENTS- rise above the flame. We are not able to see them, however,
without special help like the light from a projector. Convection is the transfer of heat by the MOVEMENT of the heated
parts of a liquid or gas.
Slide 76: When air is heated, its molecules actually bump into each other, spreading them farther apart and creating
MOVEMENT. Think about magma in the mantle: When magma is heated by touching the hot core below it, the magma
will RISE.
Slide 77: After the magma cools, it will sink back down again to the core, just like the cold water from your ice cube sank
to the bottom of your cup. The core will again heat the magma, and the magma will again rise. The up and down, rising
and sinking motions of the magma causes the tectonic plates to move.