Jun 3, 2009

Placticty Lab

About a week ago in class we did a placticty lab with 4 other people. The object of the lab was to create a mixture that could demonstrate the placticty of the Earth's mantle. The materials required were cornstarch, water, 2 small beakers, and a spoon. We had to combine the two ingredients to create the mixture. The mixture looked like a solid and when you just touch it, it feels like a solid. But when you pick it up it's like a liquid; it runs thru your hands. If you closed your hands with the mixture was in it, the substance felt like a solid but if you just laid the mixture flat on your hand it felt like a liquid. This mixture was similar to the mantle of the Earth in many ways. They both act like a liquid but when pressure and heat is applied, their characteristics were changed to the ones of a solid.

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