Earth's Layers

[22malik]

Hi, I was recently assigned an extra credit project of creating a 3D diagram of the layers of Earth.

 

At first, this seemed like a simple task, where I could just cut out an eighth Styrofoam ball and label the inside. But, my teacher wants something original... something she hasn't seen before. This requires a bit more creativity than finding old things online, as because other people in past years have used most ideas I could find online.

 

An example of a diagram that a student last year used, which got a perfect score, was a glass jar, with colored sand, each color representing a different layer of the Earth. He made sure each layer of sand was proportionally accurate compared to the actual size of every layer.

 

The project has no limitations, so I can use as many or few materials as I want, and it can be as large or small as I want. So, this is where I need your help... Can you come up with ideas? The project is due Thursday, 5/16, so I want to start working this weekend.

 

Thanks in advance,

a 9th grade science student

[Ophiolite]

1. Bake a layer cake, with each layer appropriately coloured and, after explaining it, serve everyone a slice.

2. Create a Powerpoint presentation in which hovering the mouse over each layer of a diagram of the Earth activates more information/illustration about that segment.

3. With coloured rope/twine mark out a series of arcs defining, to scale, the various layers. Do this on the school sports ground and walk people from the centre of the Earth to the surface. Place signs at various points. e.g. Here be earthquakes.

4. Take a long rope and attach symbols/signs to it at appropriate positions and suspend it from the roof or upper window of the school reaching to the ground.

5. Start thinking outside the box - the foregoing to a loss less time to think of than they took to type. (Speaking of thinking outside the box, can you see a way of representing this inside boxes?)

[chris logan]

make a model and include coloured plastic, maybe layered over each other, a different colour for a different layer. i really like the cake idea though.

[Genecks]

My first idea, too, was to make a cake. Maybe buy some dinosaur figurines and place them on the cake.

 

Another idea that comes to mind, especially if exact or approximate proportions are not of concern, is to find some books and stack them on top of each other. Maybe find books with different colored covers with different spine thicknesses. Maybe stick a toy dinosaur inbetween them to show where a dinosaur skeleton may be found. And possibly use the bottom or top of blue BIC pens to represent water.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Genecks