Ocean waters contain salt. By evaporating water from an ocean or bay, white residue of salt will become evident. Fill an empty plastic gallon milk jug with sea water. Place a cookie baking tray that has a lip around all of the edges on a table by a sunny windows. Pour some of the sea water into the tray until it reaches the top, but does not flow over. As the water evaporates, add more water until all the water is gone. Check for a white residue along the sides and bottom of the tray. Taste it to confirm it is salty.
Plate tectonics is the study of the movement of large segments of the earth's crust. These plates are slow moving, but as they pass each other or push against each other (collide), enormous pressure is built up, which can be released all at once. When this happens underwater, it can cause a tsunami that devastates coastlines hundreds and thousands of miles away.
Simulate the collision of two plates by making pudding and filling an 8-by-4 inch cake pan with it. As the pudding cools, it will form a crust on top, simulating the earth's crust, which also floats on molten material. After the crust has formed and slightly thickened, separate the pudding from the pan by taking a knife and cutting all around the outside edges of the pan. Make a cut across the middle of the pan to form two simulated tectonic plates. Using two wide blade spatulas, place each at opposite ends of the pan and gently push inward toward the middle cut, simulating two plates colliding. Observe what happens to the plates at the point where they collide. Note any effect the collision also has on the rest of the top crust areas as well as the point of collision.
Take a long walk along a shoreline with a paper and pencil and record all of the items you observe washed up on the beach. Note which items are natural (shells, stones, driftwood, crabs) and which items are man-made (rusted bolts, empty beer bottles, candy wrappers). Sadly, ocean dumping is an international problem. Determine which of the items poses a hazard to wildlife, such as plastic bags and plastic ringed six-pack carrying holders, and explain why they are a problem.
Violent storms can cause the ocean to wash away major portions of beach. This is a never-ending battle that many seashore resort towns, such as along New Jersey's coast, are always fighting. The economy of these areas depends on tourism to enjoy their beautiful beaches. Also, beaches and dunes offer natural protection to property owners who have seashore homes. Beach replenishment by dredging sand from the ocean bottom and pumping onto beaches must be done after damaging storms. Coastal winds, however, can also cause beach erosion.
Hypothesize that the finer the sand particles, the easier they can be carried by the wind to cause erosion. Use cookie baking trays, a fan and different density sands and soils to see which types of soil are more likely to erode away by high winds.
Nothing is more breathtaking than a view of the ocean from a home at the seashore. However, more maintenance is required on a seashore home due to the harshness of the environment. Experiment with the effects of salty sea water on metal objects found outside a home, such as doorknobs. With sea spray in the air, observe the film on the windows of seashore homes. Poor sea water on a patch of lawn to see if grass can survive occasional flooding from ocean or bay waters.