Messy Discoveries

Investigate Earth Science with Messy Experiments

Ready to get messy in the name of science? We will design things, test things, throw things and stomp on things while exploring fascinating phenomena in Earth science. 

Students will conduct messy and noisy experiments as they investigate glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, permafrost, sea level rise and tsunamis. We will make slime-like “flubber” to model glacier movement and create a landscape in a box to simulate the destructive power of earthquakes and tsunamis. Students will also observe lava flow in a volcano fueled by baking soda and vinegar. These and other fun, hands-on experiments provide an engaging introduction to geology, seismology, oceanography and other branches of Earth science.

What You Will Learn

Learn about glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes and other Earth science phenomena through messy experiments.

• Gain a basic understanding of a variety of phenomena in Earth science.
• Model the movement of a glacier using “flubber.”
• Use water and ice to simulate ice-ocean interactions.
• Create a landscape in a box and then model the effects of earthquakes and tsunamis.
• Observe a model volcano during an eruption caused by combining baking soda and vinegar.
• Learn about the forces that cause landslides.
• Investigate how sea level rise affects salinity.