12 Nov Year 9 Have A Cracking Time In Geography!
Year 9 students are studying coasts this term in Geography. This week they have been learning about coastal erosion. They have been doing lots of experiments to show how coastal erosion works.
Attrition
Students have been playing ‘conkers’ with digestive biscuits to represent rocks banging against each other. The result was that the digestives broke up into smaller pieces just as rocks do when the coastal waters bang them together.
Abrasion
Students have explored how the small grains in a nail file or a file in technology change both shape and texture. In coastal areas small particles carried by the sea rub against rocks making them smaller and smoother.
Hydraulic Action
Perhaps the most fun experiment! Student teams acted as waves and threw rocks (biscuits) against the bricks to represent the force of the air exploding in air cracks. The result was small crumbs and smooth pieces, much the same as experienced along the coast.
Solution
A tasty experiment where squash is added to water to make juice! This replicated the dissolving of minerals in rocks into sea water.
Year 9 all agreed that erosion is good fun!
