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How to Make a Science Experiment on Landforms

Landforms including mountains, hills, valleys, rivers and plateaus can all provide you with interesting experiments. If you have ever visited Yellowstone National Park in the western region of the country, you may wonder about the geyser that erupts seemingly out of nowhere or why some areas experience more soil erosion than other places. To find out these answers, gather a few simple items and you can make a science experiment on landforms.

Things You'll Need

  • Bucket
  • Water
  • Large plastic funnel
  • 2 feet plastic tubing
  • Shallow cardboard box
  • 2 lb. bag of sand
  • 2 lb. bag of soil
  • Various sticks and twigs
  • Plant watering can
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Instructions

  1. Geyser Experiment

    • 1

      Fill a bucket 1/2 full with water.

    • 2

      Run one end of the rubber tubing up through the narrow opening at the bottom of the funnel. Push the tube through the opening until you can see 2 inches of the tubing inside the funnel. Run the other end of the tubing outside the bucket.

    • 3

      Set the funnel on top of the water. Blow through the end of the tubing outside of the bucket. Watch the geyser spout.

    • 4

      Discuss how the pressure of your blowing through the tube causes the water to burst forth through the funnel.

    Erosion Experiment

    • 5

      Pour the sand and soil inside the cardboard box. Mix them together and form hills and valleys similar to natural formations. Flatten out areas for rivers.

    • 6

      Gather twigs and sticks from the yard and place them in the box. Stand some of them up in the sand and soil to create trees and lay some of them down to resemble fallen forest trees.

    • 7

      Fill the plant watering can with water. Tip the can slowly over the formations. Watch how the soil and sand erodes when the water falls over them.

    • 8

      Discuss which sections of the land formation erode first and last.

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