Simple Experiments: Making CRATERS

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Such a lovely activity for my kids! We had fun dropping balls of all sizes here and there Open-mouthed smile 

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Objective:

1.  To identify the type of surface where craters are formed.

 

Materials Needed:

  • an aluminum foil, the bigger the better
  • soft material like a newspaper, a rug or towel

    balls or rocks

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    Procedure:

    1.  Lay the soft material in the ground like a newspaper a rug or a towel.

    2.  On top of it, lay the foil.

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    3.  Stand at the edge of the foil and drop the ball or rock at the center of the foil.  Note be decided to use the mini basketball because we realized that golf balls made a small impact.DSC_1014

    4.  Repeat this process on a hard floor.  This time it was Vito’s turn to drop the ball.

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    5.  Examine both pieces of the foil.

    DSC_0143Findings:

    The ball that was dropped in the foil on a soft surface (first image below) made a larger impression compared to the foil lying on a hard floor (second image).  You can immediately see the impression when the ball is dropped in a soft surface!  Look at them, they look like craters!

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    You can barely see an impression here, but Vito did dropped the ball a few times.

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    What happened?

    The ball that was dropped in the softer surface sank, allowing more of the ball to be pressed against the foil.  In effect, this created those “holes” in the foil.  This is similar to the case of a meteorite (stone or metal in space) when striking a soft surface, it creates a larger imprint that are shaped like holes called craters.  Craters are best formed when meteorites strikes soft, powdery surfaces like that in the moon!  Why not check out the surface of the moon to see a real crater!

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    You might also want to check our previous experiments:

  • Why do stars twinkle?

  • Testing of different substances that dissolves in water.m

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    Forming CratersPIN

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