Name:_________________________Date:_________Period:________Score:_______

Inquiry 15.1

Using a Simple Model of Plate Movement

Read and follow the procedure Steps 1 - 7 on pp. 172-73 of your textbook.

Compare the physical properties of the two pads:

In order to complete Table 2, we must first complete Table 1.

v If Density = Mass ÷ Volume.

v Find the Density of each Pad

Table 1.

PADS	APPEARANCE	Length (L) (cm)	Width (W) (cm)	Thickness (HEIGHT) (H) (cm)	MASS (g)
Black
Blue

Table 2.

PADS	MASS (g)	÷	VOLUME L X W X H (cm^3)	=	DENSITY g/cm^3
Black
Blue

Now you will make written predictions about how these pads will respond to the forces described below.

PREDICTED RESPONSE TO APPLIED FORCES

FORCES	BLACK		BLUE
Pulled from Opposite Ends
FORCES	BLACK		BLUE
Pushed at Opposite Ends toward the Center
FORCES	BLACK/BLACK	BLUE/BLUE	BLACK/BLUE
Sliding Past Each Other
Colliding
Stack Pads and Compress

ACTUAL RESPONSE TO APPLIED FORCES(Write your description)

FORCES	BLACK		BLUE
Pulled from Opposite Ends 1
Pushed at Opposite Ends toward the Center 2
FORCES	BLACK/BLACK	BLUE/BLUE	BLACK/BLUE
Sliding Past Each Other 3
FORCES	BLACK/BLACK	BLUE/BLUE	BLACK/BLUE
Colliding 4
Stack Pads and Compress 5

Draw what happens in Procedure Step 6. (Shaded Box 4 on the Data Table)

Inquiry 15.1

Reflections – SG p.174 (WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN YOUR COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK)

1. How did the pads behave when pulled from opposite ends?

2. How did the pads behave when compressed?

3. If oceanic plates are colder, denser, and thinner than continental plates are, which pad do you think represented oceanic plates? Which pad represented continental plates?

4. How did the density of the pads affect the way they behaved when you made them collide?

5. When do colliding plates on the earth form mountains?

6. When do colliding plates form trenches?

7. Why would a more dense oceanic plate slide under a less dense continental plate?

8. Can plates ever move without forming new land? If so, when?

9. How do you think colliding plates on the earth cause earthquakes?

Relief Globe Questions:

p. 178 (WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN YOUR COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK)

1. Feel the globe. What do you observe? How is it different from other globes you have used?

2. Where on the earth do you see evidence that plates collided in the past? What evidence do you have that plates may have collided there? Do you think those plates were continental, oceanic, or both? Why?

3. Where on the globe do you think plates are separating? Find evidence of this both within continents and under the ocean.

4. Find Japan and the Japan Trench. Feel these areas on the relief globe. What do you observe about these areas? What do you think is happening to the two plates that meet at this trench?

5. Find the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Feel this ridge on the relief globe. What do you observe about this landform? What do you think is happening to the two plates located along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge? Why do you think this ridge is higher than the rest of the ocean floor?

6. Are there other places on the globe similar to the Japan Trench and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

Inquiry 15.2

Using the Moving Plates Model

Read and follow the procedure Steps 1 - 9 on pp. 176-77 of your textbook

Step 3. How are the belts changing on either side of the center slit?

What happens to the black belts as they get near the edges of the lid?

Continent	Landforms found	Why there?
North America
Africa
South America

Step 5.

Which continents seem to fit well together? Why do you think this is so?

Step 7.

Studying the Catastrophic Events World Map and the map from the previous page, what patterns do you observe in the shapes of the continents and the shape of the ridge in the center of the Atlantic Ocean?

What do you think is responsible for these patterns?

Step 8.

What happens as the continents collide?

Step 9.

Looking at North America’s eastern states, what landforms do you notice there?

What process do you think might have been responsible for forming the mountain range there (called the Appalachian Mountains)?

Inquiry 15.2

Reflections – p.178 (WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN YOUR COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK)

1. How do you think the Moving Plates Model shows what happens on the earth when two plates separate?

2. What causes the ocean floor to separate and “grow”?

3. Think about what happened to the black belt as it reached the edges of the model’s lid. What landform is created when the ocean floor sinks back into the earth?

4. What patterns did you observe in the shapes of Africa and South America? How did the shapes of these continents compare with the shape of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

5. What landform is created when plates separate? Give an example.

6. What landform is created when two continental plates collide? Give an example.