GEMS Plate Tectonics

[Socalmom]

My first thread! I lurk (a lot!:001_smile:) and rarely post but have been heavily influenced by all of your wisdom on home schooling resources. I was able to pick up a used copy of Plate Tectonics: The Way the Earth Works. It's just what we needed. I'm excited to get started and have been trying to track down all of the needed supplies. If you have used this, were you able to find a centrifuge tube and rubber stopper? Everywhere I've looked sells them in bulk and it would be very expensive. If you didn't use the centrifuge tube, did you design your volcano differently than shown in the book? Do the magnets used in session 7 have to be ceramic magnets?

 

Looking forward to getting started -

Margie

[Guest]

I'm one of GEMS' major fans and supporters here. I used Plate Tectonics with a co-op group of sixth graders a few years back and it was a resounding success.

 

I found I had to buy the rubber stoppers in relative bulk (can't remember whether it was 25 or 50 of them), but they were pretty inexpensive so I didn't mind. You might try calling up a local high school or community college and leaving a message with the chemistry teachers asking whether they have a couple of spares; or as I think several moms on the boards are either doing Plate Tectonics this year or considering it, maybe one person could order the tubes and stoppers and then share them out.

 

The strato volcano model, which uses the stopper, is the greatest hit not only of the unit, but just about of all GEMS activities -- the kids in the co-op were so enchanted that they erupted their volcanoes repeatedly over about six hours, until the papier mache underneath literally disintegrated.

[Socalmom]

Thanks for your reply! I can see my DD doing the same thing. I know she is going to love these activites. Were you able to find the centrifuge tube?

 

Margie

[PeterPan]

And now Karen for the real question... can we retrofit a volcano? We have a great one in our basement that dd made a few years and never got shot off. Something about me having a baby and being totally disinterested in supervising. :)

[Guest]

You know, I don't remember about the centrifuge tube, but we must have had them if the rubber stoppers fit inside with just the right amount of tightness. If you have a make-do tube with a different diameter, the first kind of lava flows will work just fine, but the pop-out strato volcano ones will not.

 

Elizabeth, you can retrofit if you get the size tube and stopper called for and just anchor it in the bottom of whatever model you have -- use clay or tinfoil to mold a base to set the tube in. The tube needs to come out to be cleaned between "eruptions." When you time three different batches of lava formulas as part of a viscosity test the outside of the volcano will get pretty wet. Make sure your dh doesn't mind that. Ours were just thick paper painted over, and they ultimately disintegrated (but we fit in an awful lot of eruptions first!).