Questions by students

Dear Gentlemen,

Below are questions asked by your schoolmates, you may look at them and see if they can also help you clarify some doubts.

I will update it constantly with any quesitons asked.

How are volcanoes formed? (Asked by Shawn, 1-5) [Chapter 8, answer in pg 84 of textbook]
1) Volcanoes are formed by the process of vulcanicity.
2) This usually happens when two plates collide with each other and where the denser plate will sink into the mantle and melt into magma due to the high temperatures.
3) The high temperatures also causes built up pressure of gases under the Earth's surface which leads to an eruption due to the release of this built up pressure of gases.
4) When the magma escapes to the Earth's surface through a single hole due to eruption, the cooler temperatures on the Earth's surface causes the lava to harden and solidify.
5) Overtime, with repeated eruptions, the hardened layers of lava results in a cone-shaped mountain called a volcano.

How do plates move? (Question in mini test and re-asked by Deon, 1-5) [Chapter8, answer explained in blog post and ink experiment video]

Plates lie/float on molten mantle.
Plates moves as the hightemperatures within the Earth surface causes the molten mantle to flow in certain directions due to convection currents.
Therefore, movements of the mantle cause the crustal plates that lie on it to move.

How are plateaux formed? (Question by Warren, 1-9) [Chapter 8, textbook pg 97]

1) Plateaux are formed by the process of vulcanicity.
2) This usually happens when there is a long crack or fault in the Earth's crust.
3) The high temperatures also causes built up pressure of gases under the Earth's surface which leads to an eruption due to the release of this built up pressure of gases.

4)Magma then escapes from a long crack or fault and spreads over a very large area, the cooler temperatures on the Earth's surface causes the lava to harden and solidify.

5) Overtime, with repeated eruptions, the hardened layers of lava results in a plateau.

*Process is the same as volcano, just that instead of a single hole vent, its a large LONG crack or fault.

Chapter 9: Rocks

Hi Gentlemen,

My apologies for the late post of videos on the Chapter 9. But as you prepare for your class test this Saturday, please go through the videos below if you still have any queries or aren't sure of some concepts.

Here's the video I showed you during class, when I wanted to introduce to you the three different rock types and the rock cycle. It's really a good visual re-cap of the whole chapter itself. You can watch the video until 1.24 minutes as after that it is not relevant, but more for general knowledge.

The next few videos are quite old videos but quite good in knowing in details the different rocks.

IGNEOUS ROCK

Here's a video that shows you how to identify igneous rocks..

SEDIMENTARY ROCK

Here's a video about the Grand Canyon and how it is made up of mainly sedimentary rock, for your interest. =)

METAMORPHIC ROCK

Finishing it off, is this rock cycle video I showed you in class, go through the animation and in your mind have the thought process of what the rock cycle is about.

This can be found at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/site/GSL/lang/en/page3892.html too.

EARTH HOUR and Fish & Co

Hi Gentlemen,

I thought I would do a bit of promotion for Fish & Co and their good cause.

If you still do not know, Earth Hour 2010 is going to happen this Saturday. Earth Hour was a movement started in Australia in 2007, where homes and business pledged to switch off their lights for 1 hour and and has ever since swept the whole world. The whole idea is about making a change in our habits to at least help Earth in whatever way we can.

No doubt, sometimes asking ourselves to be really clean and green can sometimes be difficult but something has to start somewhere, somehow. I think supporting Earth Hour is a good start. Imagine the whole world without lights for that 1 hour, on how much we can save on that amount of energy used to actually produce that light.

Below is the poster by Fish and Co.....

......and you can catch their catchy video to do our part for Earth here also.

Spread the word and get a $1 voucher where u can purchase their famed fish and chips for just $1!=)

If you want to know more about Earth Hour, go to their official website HERE!

Oh, want to your part to save a bit of energy? When you are googling for anything , use this search engine Blackle instead. Blackle is mainly google search engine just that instead of colour and white screen (it uses more electricity as compared to a black screen) it uses mainly a black screen and greys.

Be green spread the message!=)

Cheers,

Miss Zheng

Chapter 8: Animation of Plate Tectonics

Dear Gentlemen,

Click the link below and explore the website for different animations of the different processes taught in class already so as to better understand and visualize what is taught already. =)

http://whs.moodledo.co.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=972

Cheers,

Miss Zheng

Chapter 8: Vulcanicity and the landforms

Dear Gentlemen,

Below are the videos I went through with you (Class 1-9), Class 1-5, you can look through it as you read the textbook and do your notes.

How Volcanoes are formed (Vulcanicity)

The video above talks about how volcanoes form and this process of Vulcanicity is a very important geographical concept that you must know for Chapter 8. The video also talks about the Pacific Ring of Fire which is found in the Pacific Ocean area, please note that you must know how to highlight where the Pacific Ring of Fire is.

The next video below is about the different types of volcanoes that can be found, this is added knowledge that is not talked about in your textbook. The analogy I gave in Class 1-9 is honey and milk. Honey and milk are both liquids, but Honey is much thicker than milk. I gave the example in class that if I was to pour out honey and milk on the tables, which will flow faster, if you have eaten both liquids, your answer should be milk will faster. As such, since milk can flow faster, this would also mean that milk can go over a larger surface area on the table as compared to milk.

You all know that when magma reaches the Earth's surface, it becomes lava and it cools down when on the Earth's surface and hardens. So if milk can reach over a larger surface on the table, this would also mean that the surface area for it to be in contact with cooler air would be larger, so it will cool down much faster as compared to honey.

Different volcanoes are made up of different materials and magma that comes up to the earth's surface, some lava may be very thick or some very thin, so eventually it will form different kind of volcanoes. Read the notes on the Volcanoes, below there are the different types of volcanoes introduced, you will not be tested but it is for you general knowledge.

Remember for all that I have gone through, you must know the

1) the difference between magma and lava

2) where the most volcanic activity occurs (plate boundaries)

3) how does an eruption occur

4) different crustal plates, how to identify and label them.

5) The different internal processes that happen (PULL, PUSH, SLIDE)

6) The resultant landforms due to the internal processes

7) To draw and label a basic cross section of a volcano

8) How volcanoes are formed (To be able to describe)

9) The location of the Pacific Ring of Fire

Don't leave it to last minute to finish your work, do it NOW, and so that you can enjoy at the later parts of your holidays.

Cheers,

Miss Zheng

Chapter 8: Internal Structure and forces that create landforms

Dear Gentlemen,

Below are the videos I showed in class today to better let you visualize and know what are geographical concepts and ideas of this chapter. Do look through the videos again as revision and get a better understanding of the many new geographical concepts introduced.

Video on the Internal Structure of the Earth

Video on the Early Earth (The idea of supercontinent Pangaea, Laurasia and Gondwandaland)

Video on the concept of Plate Tectonics Theory, Continental Drift, plate boundaries(constructive & destructive) and the different internal forces (Push, Pull and Slide)

How convection currents work in the Continental Drift Theory (To cause plates to push, pull and slide with each other)

Eruption of Kilauea Volcano (In Hawaii, which is mentioned in the "How volcanoes form" video above, where hotspots were introduced and that volcanoes at hotspots form due to the loose rocks rising up from the core to the crust)

Remember to label the different plates on your notes and also know where fold mountains can be found on the world map!

Chapter 8: Will Krakatoa rock the world again?

Dear Gentlemen,

Especially for Class 1-5, I told you all about Krakatoa found in Indonesia and how it's explosiveness could be heard as far as Perth in Australia, also added that the amount of TNT/power that Krakatoa 13,000 times the power of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima! This eruption caused change in weather where average global temperatures following the eruption fell by as much as 1.2 C, as the huge quantities of sulphur dioxide pumped into the atmosphere resulted in clouds that reflected a greater amount of incoming light from the sun. Also of course, destruction to not only humans but also the physical environment.

Just last year, there were speculation of Krakatoa stirring and threatening to erupt again. See excerpts of the online UK daily news and the pictures of Krakatoa taken from there.

Ominous glow: In 1883, more than 36,0000 people died when Krakatoa erupted - today, thousands more farmers live near the volcano

Risk: The smoking time-bomb is located on the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra

Ticking timebomb: Islanders thought they had avoided another disaster after things went quiet in 2008

Firestorm: In an awesome display of flaming lava and molten ash, Anak Krakatoa - the child of Krakatoa - reveals its latent power. In recent years, eruptions have steadily grown in intensity

Devil’s cauldron: Krakatoa’s eruptions draw in violent thunderstorms, adding to the air of menace

All photos from website,CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE