Fun Science Experiments
Making Valleys
You get science experiments and then you get fun science experiments. These are the experiments where you get your hands dirty and you can see results straight away. This experiment is one of those. You can also change things slightly to see what difference it makes. Curious??? In this experiment you will be using different types of soil to make mini hills and slopes. Then you will pretend that a river is running down the slopes. Do you think the “river” will have results on the different slopes? Well, let's find out... Let's do science...
The Experiment
The Aim
To see if slopes made from different types of soil will erode differently when a river runs down them. Equipment Needed Different types of soil, e.g. sand, clay, loam, gravel...Water – a lot of it.A hard board or surface on which to build the “slopes” or “hills”. Depending on the soil used, you may need to use a large dish so that the slope does not just collapse.A camera. Method Using the different soil types, make a variety of slopes and hills. Start off with the separate soil types, i.e. just sand or just clay. Make some high, steep slopes and some low, gentle slopes (always make the same slopes for each of the soils – this is to make a good comparison). Make some wet and some dry. Make a wet one and then leave it to dry in the sun so that it becomes hard (the clay would do this). After you have done this with all the separate soils, mix some and make some more hills. These are just some ideas. You can make as many or as few as you like. The more you have the better your results and conclusions will be.
On each slope, pour some water from the top so that it runs down. Here again, you can vary the amount and how hard the water is thrown onto the slope. Think of some rivers and how they either run fast or slow. Take a photo of the results for each one and write down the result in your
logbook.
Remember to take a photo of each slope before you put water on it. This is the control. Results
This experiment is really open to have a lot of fun trying different things (that is why it can be called one of the fun science experiments). The important part is to keep good records of what happen. You will find that there will definitely be some differences in the way the slopes are eroded. The Conclusion
Different conditions (i.e. soil type, steepness of slope, how the water runs over the slope etc.) will affect how the slope is eroded.
For other fun science experiments for elementary school, click here.
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