River Formation Experiment

Experiment #1: Earthquakes

Hypothesis: The earthquake with disrupt the water and send it downhill creating a river.

Test: Put a magnet spinner in dieatomaceus earth and see where the water in the earth will go. The magnet spinner simulates the vibrations of an earthquake.

Result: The spinner created a hole in the earth and created a mini lake. The simulated earthquake moved the earth out of the way but not the water creating a lake.

Conclusion: If an earthquake occurs in a saturated area than a lake will form. The rock will be pushed out of the way and water will flood into the new opening.

Experiment #2: Transportation (man-made intervention)

Hypothesis: The water will flow cleanly downhill through a provided tube, and empty out into an enclosed space.

Test: Create a downhill slope and block off the bottom, link the top to the bottom with a rubber hose, and see if the water poured into the lake at the top will flow cleanly through the hose into the lake at the bottom.

Result: The rubber hose got clogged up with the sand/dirt quickly after the water was poured into the lake at the top. It was really hard to get everything into place at the right time.



This is what happens when water is allowed
to flow freely downhill.



Conclusion:  Overall if you were to use this method of transportation for water it would not really be worth it. Water will flow downhill whenever possible but if the way get blocked by nature or by man-made interference than it will either find another way down or stay put until it is removed and it can flow down again.



This is what our earthquake simulation did.
It moved the earth out of the way and the
water filled the gap.