Erosion

As a part of our geography semester, we've been studying erosion.  To show the difference in the wind weathering rock and dirt and the action of water we used sugar cubes.

As a part of the experimental method, I've been making up sheets for Kate to fill in.  I list the different items we need.  Then she fills in the blanks for the steps of the experiment using a word bank.  She makes a hypothesis and then she gets to check it with her findings.

For the actual experiment:

First, Kate blew on the block--we saw a few particles blow away.

Then, she used a dropper to drip water over it, which dissolved the sugar slowly and carried it off--the kids tasted the sweet water to see that it was still there.

Lastly, we turned the faucet with the water running hard., which made the sugar cube swirl around and dissolve very quickly.

It was a fun and easy experiment.  The kiddos quickly understood the fastest way to dissolve the cube was fast running water and it seems to have stuck.