Friday, March 15, 2013

Plastic Rock/Mantelgestein

Jonathan's science topic right now is "The Earth and the Lithosphere." Below the earth's lithosphere is a a layer called asthenosphere. The rocks found there are not completely solid, but can harden under force. When the force passes, the rock returns to it flowing state. This rock is called plastic rock. To see how it behaves, Jonathan had to mix cornstarch and water. This mixture was a "soup," but under pressure (Jonathan's squeezing hand) it became solid. Flora watched and helped.

Jonathans naturwissenschaftliche Thema ist im Moment "Die Erde und die Lithosphäre". Unter der Lithospähre befindet sich eine Schicht, die sich Asthenosphäre nennt. In dieser Schicht ist das Gestein nicht ganz fest, verfestigt sich aber unter Druck. Um dieses Phänomen näher zu erleben und das plastisch verformbare Gestein besser zu verstehen, mußte Jonathan Maisstärke mit Wasser mischen. Diese "Suppe" verfestigte sich unter Druck (Jonathans quetschende Hand). Flora hat zugeschaut und geholfen.






7 comments:

  1. Dave would say it was thixatropic hope i have spelt it right!

    Lovely to hear music in the background and your voice Eva giving instructions.

    San x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to look that up. By the way, I think I only say "flüssig" (liquid), the rest is Jonathan showing me what he has been doing. Charlotte is practicing her recorder and at the end I think it is she who makes that sound of disgust. (She was just coming into the kitchen then).

      Delete
    2. I looked it up, interesting, his science book didn't mention thixotropic, but maybe they didn't want to throw in another new word after introducing all the different geological terms.

      Delete
  2. Wir haben das Experiment mit Maisstärke und Wasser bei "fest oder flüssig?" kennengelernt unter dem Namen Gobbledegoo (während wir in England waren). Und so heisst es jetzt bei uns noch immer und bereiten uns immer mal wieder Spass. Toll, das jetzt auch im Zusammenhang mit Geologie zu bringen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fun lesson! Also Jonathan suddenly looks very tall to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He is still shorter than I am (I'm 5 ft 8), but he eats huge amounts of food every day!! Pretty soon he will have reached my height.

      Delete

Welcome and leave a comment, if you like. I look forward to reading your lines.

Willkommen auf meinem Blog. Über einen Kommentar würde ich mich sehr freuen.