The Rock Cycle is the cycle of processes that rocks in the Earth's crust undergo. The Rock Cycle describes the formation, breakdown, and reformation of rocks. The three main processes that a rock goes through is Igneous rock, Sedimentary rock, and Metamorphic rock. The Igneous rock is formed by cooling of molten magma on the Earth's surface. The Sedimentary rock is formed when sediment is deposited out of air, ice, wind, or when water flows carry these particles in suspension. This sediment is often formed when weathering and erosion break down a rock into loose material. The Metamorphic rock is a result of a transformation of a pre-existing rock. The pre-existing rock is subjected to very high heat and pressure which makes it go through physical and/or chemical changes. Each type of rock is able to transform into the two other rock types. However, there are other steps that the rocks must go through in order to transform from one rock type to another. The other stages of the cycle include becoming magma, soil, or sediment. You may be wondering how the rocks transport from one stage to another, well the rocks may experience erosion, weathering, deposition, lithification, melting, or crystallization when transforming into the different stages of the rock cycle. Rocks typically start as molten rock (magma below ground or lava above ground) which cools and hardens into igneous rock. No matter what rocks start as, they are always able to go through the cycle and make their way back to what they originally were.
S&EP - SP1: Asking questions and defining problems
I formulated testable questions when I discovered what I needed to do in order to complete the worksheet I did in class, about the Rock Cycle. I established what is already known about the Rock Cycle by writing, filling out, and answering questions about the Rock Cycle and how it works, using the online Gizmo. I determined what questions have yet to be answered when I looked back on the information that I collected and saw which of the questions on the worksheet I still needed to answer. I defined constraints and specifications for a solution when I noticed that some of the information on the worksheet I needed to have wasn't actually on the Gizmo. This information that I needed should only be answered by myself, since it was only the basic knowledge of the Rock Cycle I should have. However, I had some trouble on this part because the Rock Cycle is review from sixth grade and I don't quite remember all the processes of the cycle.
No comments:
Post a Comment