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Density Creates Currents
Read pages 48-51 and then answer the following questions in the space
provided.
1. Describe how convection can heat a room.
2. What are circular convection currents called?
3. Where do convection currents take place in nature?
4. Where does the energy that drives convection currents in nature come from?
5. Look at the picture at the bottom of p. 48. Draw and label how convection currents occur
in the atmosphere. (On computer—find a picture with labels online that shows the same idea
and insert it below.)
6. How would the winds shown in the picture be different at night?
7. What is the name of the convection current that runs along the east coast of the US?
8. Describe how convection currents in the oceans occur.
9. Why is water near the poles more dense than other ocean water?
10. Convection currents can cause cracks in the Earth’s crust which causes continents to
move or split apart. Where does the heat come from for this to occur?
11. List the names of the layers of Earth’s crust from the inside to the outside (in picture):
1.
2.
3.
12. What are the two types of crustal material that Earth’s plates are made of?
13. How are huge mountains like Mt. Everest formed?
14. What causes Earthquakes?
15. Big birds such as vultures and hawks can often be seen gliding round
and round over big parking lots on sunny days, without even flapping their
wings. How can this be explained?
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Read the article on p. 52-55 and answer the following questions in the space provided.
1. What are 3 facts about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline?
2. Why was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline built?
3. What were the three challenges of the Alaska territory that engineers had to think about
when designing the Pipeline?
1.
2.
3.
4. What is permafrost?
5. What would happen if the icy soil melted when oil flowed
through the pipes?
6. The metal pipes expand and contract with changes in temperature. How did the designers
solve this problem when they built the pipeline?
7. How much is the pipeline designed to move in the event of an extreme earthquake?