Try
this experiment to see how craters are made and why they can be different sizes,
depths, or throw more debrise out around the crater.
Materials
for each group: 5 lb. bag of flour, 9 1/4 x11 3/4 aluminum pan, brown tempera
paint, meter stick, ruler, newspaper, balance scale, tweezers, toothpicks, pencil,
paper strips, objects to represent meteorites: grape, marble, ping pong ball,
golf ball, and tennis ball.
Steps:
1.Place the pan on the newspaper. Fill the pan with flour to the depth of three
inches. Sprinkle tempera paint over the flour's surface.
Click here for chart to print so you can record
your measurements.
Chart
3.Weigh
each meteorite object and hold it above the pan at a height of 20 centimeters.
Drop the object. Then carefully remove it from the resulting impact crater,
or bowl-shaped hollow. Use tweezers to remove the smaller objects. Label the
crater with a paper strip.
4.Measure the crater's width and depth and record
the measurements in the chart. To measure small craters, mark the measurements
on a toothpick with a pencil. Then use a ruler to measure from the tip of the
toothpick to each mark.
6.Repeat Steps 4-5 with each remaining object.
7.Repeat Steps 4-6 dropping each meteorite object
from a height of 60 centimeters, then 1 meter, and finally 2 meters.
