Miss Fisher ran a prac with her Year 8 students for the 'Rocks and the Rock Cycle' Unit they are doing in Science. In nature, the heating and cooling of rock causes weathering, with rocks expanding in high daytime temps and contracting during cold night-time temps. The prac reduced the many years it takes rocks to breakdown by simulating the weathering process using intense heat from a Bunsen burner.
Procedure:
1. Carefully heat a small piece of granite in the Bunsen burner until very hot using a pair of metal tongs.
2. Dip the hot piece of granite into a beaker filled with water.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 four times and record observations.
4. Decant off the water to reveal the sediment.
5. Scrape the sediment into a petri dish and examine the sediment using a stereoscope.
6. Draw and describe – Quartz, Feldspar & Mica.
