In this activity you will learn how wind affects landforms. To understand this lets look at the way the wind speeds were measured during Hurricane Katrina. Check out this website and check out the wind forces http://www.jason.org/digital_labs/hurricanes/Hurricane.html

 

Also check out the effect wind has on buildings, bridges, roofs, and across complex terrrains http://www.windlab.colostate.edu/wind_effects.htm

In this activity you will pair off with a friend and explore the effect of wind on erosion of landforms

First make a guess at the following questions:

What effect does air have on sand?

Will making the sand wet change the effect?

If you change the force of the wind how will it change the effect?

Does the angle of wind make a difference?

Materials Needed:

• safety goggles

• a sprinkling can full of water

• 5 flat pans

• 1.5 liters of sand

• 1 litre of clay

• 0.5 liters of gravel

• hair dryer

• cardboard sheet

• metric ruler

• protractor

• marker and masking tape

Preparation: Label the pans A, B, C, D, and E, put 0.5 liters of sand in pans A and B, 0.5 liters into pans C and D, and a mix of 0.5 liters of sand and 0.5 liters of gravel in pan E. Dampen pans A and C and keep them damp throughout the activity

Procedure: Place the cardboard sheet in front end of the end of pan A. Holding the hair dryer about 10 cm from pan A at an angle of 45 degrees at the opposite end from the cardboard. Direct an air stream into the pan for one minute

Repeat the process for all the pans.

Now change the angle of the hair dryer to 10 degrees and repeat the above procedure with all pans

Next move the hair dryer to 20 cm and repeat the procedure with all pans with hair dryer at a 45 degree angle.

Finally keep the hair dryer at 20 cm and at an angle of 10 degrees and repeat the procedure with all the pans.

Record your results as you complete each step on the Wind Impact Table

 

Click on the picture to find the Wind Impact Table Activity

 

 

 

 

Landform Blog - Student Questionnaire:

A questionnaire is used to evaluate the progress of the students and the curriculum web.

 

The students have access to the blog after each unit so that they are able to voice their likes/dislikes or understanding/confusion as they go through the webquest.

Click on the webpage at the right to access the Landform Blog.When you have finished answering the questions for this section, use your browser back arrow to return to the Wind Impact webpage.

 

 

 

Click the Student to go back to index page!