Rivers: Lab Work; Working with Diatomaceous Earth 1/25-1/31

Summary;
Rivers can take a long time to form. Many different things can affect the way a river forms. Some of these things include glaciers and dams. These two things either add water or block water. This can either be good for the river or bad. Building dams can be very risky because it is holding up so much water. If not build correctly, the dam could send a lot of water inland, corrupting the river and it would have to much water. Glaciers on the other hand can help speed up the erosion process because they add more water to the river. But if to much erosion happens to much sediment is brought down filling parts of the river with to much sediment. Rivers are very important resources to humans and other living things. They provide water and a home for other animals. Without rivers, we would not be able to be the advanced species we are today.

SP2: Developing and using models:

We used models of rivers to simulate how a river was formed. We performed multiple experiments to simulate how things affect a river. In the first experiment, we tested how a river formed naturally by having a water bottle drip steady drops of water into a tub of diatomaceous earth. We then experimented with how the river would react if we put different obstacles in its path and other things like that. Some of those experiments included putting in ice, 'toxic waste' (water with red food coloring), and dams. By doing so it made it very clear on how a river can change via other things. I thought that it was a good idea to do it like this (visual) so you can actually see how it changes.