Observations and context
Observations:
To motivate and learn how a volcanic eruption takes place this experience could be carried out:
A volcano in the laboratory A model of igneous processes with wax and sand . A volcano in the laboatory .
Simulate the ascent of magma through the crust and observe how one part reaches the surface and represents a lava flow, while another part stops in the water mass, representing an igneous intrusion.
Prepare a 500 ml glass beaker as described in the "Materials" section and place it on a tripod ready to be heated with a Bunsen burner. Before lighting it, ask the students to make a prediction of what will happen when the contents of the beaker are heated. To stimulate discussion, they can be asked:
- Which will melt first, the wax or the sand (the wax).
- What will happen to the wax once it has melted? (It will rise).
- Why will it rise (The melted wax is less dense than water).
- Will the molten wax reach the surface of the water? (Yes, at least some of it normally erupts onto the surface of the water and spreads out to form a layer of molten wax).
- Will wax remain in the water? (Yes, especially if the water has been previously cooled).
- Will the molten wax undergo convection around the beaker? (No, the beaker is too small and the wax floats on top of the water).
Now heat the glass and ask students to watch carefully from a safe distance or through a protective screen.
Often, nothing seems to happen until the lava suddenly erupts. Ask how the molten wax can reach the surface if the surrounding water is cold (often a wax tube forms in the water, through which the remaining wax rises, insulated from the water by the consolidated wax tube).
(Remove the Bunsen when there is still some wax left at the bottom of the glass).
Materials:
- a 500 ml beaker
- colored candle wax
- washed sand
- cold water (if possible, previously cooled in a refrigerator).
- a Bunsen or camping gas burner, tripod, grid, fireproof mat, matches, eye protection or safety shield.
Note: Although a wax eruption may seem dangerous, experience proves that the worst that can happen is that the beaker may break if it gets too hot, causing wax and water to spill out. The activity should be prepared before class by melting wax in the bottom of the beaker (about 1 cm high) and allowing it to cool. Add washed sand (again 1 cm) and fill with cold water to about three-quarters full. After adding the water, make sure that the sand has a uniform thickness throughout the base of the beaker. To ensure the formation of some igneous intrusions, the beaker can be cooled.
Real-world applications of the model can be discussed, for example:
- Sand and water represent layers of the Earth's crust.
- The wax represents the upper mantle, normally solid, but which may be partially molten in places.
- Just as wax rises because of its lower density than its surroundings, magma can rise to intrude into the crust or reach the surface and form a lava flow.
- The wax that reaches the surface is highly mobile and spreads out to form a layer simulating the frequent basaltic plateaus, such as those in Iceland or Antrim (Northern Ireland), where huge volumes of lava came out not from point volcanoes but from fissures.
-Feeder tubes also occur in nature and effectively isolate the rising magma from the cooler rocks it passes through, just as they do in the glass.
· Las formas de cera consolidada dentro del agua son similares a las que forman las intrusiones de rocas ígneas reales. Estas se pueden hacer aflorar retirando la lava de cera para simular la erosión del mundo real.
- Consolidated wax forms within the water are similar to those formed by real igneous rock intrusions. These can be brought to the surface by removing the wax lava to simulate real-world erosion.
- Students can be challenged to tell which aspects of the model do not represent the real world. (In reality, surface lavas would solidify before intrusive masses because of lower surface temperatures. Most real rocks will crystallize as they cool, and will not simply freeze as wax does. The use of water to represent solid layers may present difficulties for some students, but there is no other way to make the processes visible).
- The model can be related to the theory of plate tectonics.
The Spanish Alicia Asín, together with the Swiss Monique Morrow, both experts in Artificial Intelligence and big data, have become a reference and example of the struggle of women to reach prestigious and responsible positions in the field of engineering.
Despite the fact that engineering is a field with less female representation than other areas of knowledge, it is currently considered that the first algorithm in history was created by a woman. Specifically, it is attributed to Ada Lovelace, a 19th century British aristocrat. Similarly, the development and evolution of programming is largely due to the American Frances Allen (1932-2020), who dedicated her life to the creation of simple and intuitive programs that could be executed quickly and efficiently. To Karen Spärck Jones (1935-2007) we owe some of the foundations of natural language processing (NLP), being a pioneer in information retrieval. Her contributions include the ITF and IDF search algorithms. Finally, among the many women working in the field of engineering, we could mention Teresa de Pedro (1944), who has developed one of the first Artificial Intelligence systems in Spain. She is an expert in robotics and directed the Autopía program, which led to the first Spanish autonomous vehicle.
Description
Reading a text to analyze and summarize the measures for prevention and prediction of volcanic risks.
To motivate and learn how a volcanic eruption takes place, this experience could be carried out:
Un volcán en el laboratorio Un modelo de procesos ígneos con cera y arena
The ascent of magma through the crust is simulated and it is observed how a part of it reaches the surface and represents a lava flow, while another part stops in the water mass, representing an igneous intrusion.
In the observations section, this activity is explained and everything necessary to carry it out is listed.
Answer
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