8/8/2019 Glacier Lab

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Glacier lab

-Chris Kim-

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to observe the properties of a block of ice, thatrepresents a glacier.

Hypothesis: I hypothesize that when we insert the wire in the block of ice quickly, there

will be small holes in the ice, but they will dissapear after being rubbed against the plastic

sheet of paper. When we push the wire in with force for a long time, the hole that thewire would create would be deeper and wouldn’t ware of as quickly as the other holes. I

also hypothesize that when we dip the ice block into sand quickly it will pick up a good

amount of sand, but when we place the block for a long time, and apply preesure onto it

into the sand, the block will pick up a great amount of time.

Materials: Large piece of ice, sand, wire, plastic sheet, paper towels.

Procedure

In this lab we observe and record the properties of ice and relate those properties with the

 properties of a glacier.First quickly insert a wire into the block, and make observations. Then insert the

wire into the ice block, and apply force for 2 minutes. After record our observation. Rubthe block of ice against the plastic sheet and record what happened. Then test the ice block by dipping it into sand twice. The first time quickly and the second time push the

 block into the sand for 2 minutes. Aferwards rub the block against the plastic sheet again

with the sand still attached to the ice block and record what you see.

Analysis

The purpose of carrying out this lab was to learn about the properties of a glacier, by testing a block of ice. I found that when pressure is applied onto ice, it softens which

enables objects to be imbedded in the ice. I also found that when you apply pressure onto

ice for a long time more objects are able to be imbedded into the ice. So the longer  pressure is applied the more the ice melts and softens, which causes more objects to be

stuck onto the ice. When I removed the wire out of the ice, we removed it through the

same way it went in. I didn’t twist it out or force it, I just pulled it out through the same

 passage as I forced it in. That way I didn’t destroy the ice. While I slowly pushed the

8/8/2019 Glacier Lab

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wire into the ice, I was applying pressure on the wire. This caused the ice to soften and

melt, which allowed the wire to be stick into the ice. Just the same happened when we

slowly applied pressure on the ice block into the sand. When I slowly removed the icefrom the sand, a lot of sand stuck onto and became imbedded in the ice. When I first

rubbed the bare ice cubed onto the plastic sheet, the ice cube’s surface became smooth,

and the plastic sheet only had minor scratches. The second time though I rubbed sandyice onto the plastic sheet. This scratched the paper greatly, just like a how a glacier cuts

grooves and striations in bedrock.

Conclusion:

The ice block that I tested is much like a glacier. The properties are more or less

the same. Sand imbedded into the ice block, is just like rocks imbedded in glaciers. Both

events are caused when pressure is applied onto the ice block or the glacier. For a glacier the process is plucking, for a block of ice the process is known as whatever you want to

call, but they are both more or less the same process. Rubbing the sandy ice onto the

 plastic sheet, represents a glacier moving on bedrock, and both cause the surface under 

them to scratch. So therefore the properties of ice and a glacier are very similar.