Our new WAU theme this term is volcanoes. To understand why volcanoes erupt we did a fun experiment with a plate and custard.
The plate represents the Earth's crust. We placed it on top of some custard in a tray (see photo1).
However, the earth's crust is not perfect and there are cracks in the crust. To demonstrate this Mrs Allen used a hammer to break the plate. Warning: do not attempt this at home! We wore safety goggles! (See photo 2)
The broken bits of the plate represent the Earth's tectonic plates. The custard represents the earth's magma. When we pressed on the broken plate's bits, custard rose to the top! So at the edge of tectonic plates on the earth, magma can erupt-this is where you will find volcanoes.
The plates either move away from each other allowing volcanic eruptions to happen, move towards each other which creates mountains, or slide alongside each other.
Then we pushed our fists tightly again each other: this made our hands shake! See photo 3! In the same way, in real life, where 2 plates are sliding along each other, the ground will shake, creating an earthquake.
Join us next week for more volcano fun!
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