erosion+fun

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Title
Erosion fun

Broad Question
Which material best prevents erosion?

Specific Question
Does type of natural material prevent erosion?

Hypothesis
rocks will prevent erosion a little better than clay, and much more than sand, and less than dirt

Independent Variable:
Sand,Clay, Dirt, Rocks

Dependent Variable:
Erosion

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
Water, Model

General Plan
Identify four types of natural material, put one in a plastic tray, and calmly let water flow by the material twice, measure material and repeat with other materials.

Potential Problems And Solutions
how to measure materials, measure material eroded into opposite end. gathering materials.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
n/a

What is your experimental unit?
This is the base unit of your experiment, for example, one plant, one ice cube, one dish. It is the thing you will be measuring.

Number Of Trials:
4

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
In the trial 2

Number of Observations:
8

When data will be collected
3/13-3/15

Where will data be collected?:
In Mr. Littlefield's room

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * || sand ||  || $1 ||
 * || clay ||  || ? ||
 * || dirt ||  || $1 ||
 * || rocks ||  || n/a ||
 * || plastic enclosure ||  || $6 ||
 * || other ||  || $4 ||
 * || silicone jell ||  || $3 ||

Detailed Procedure
1.gather materials 2. place plastic container on a wedge of incline 1' to 12' pitch 3. pack 1/2 snowball mold with material 4. place packed materials into center of container 5.pour one gallon of water into resevour 6.release water 7. gather material eroded 8.let dry 9.record data 10. repeat again with other materials.

Photo List
before, during, after

Time Line
3/1/13 experiment done. 3/7/13 analysis done. 3/15/13 discussion done.

All Raw Data
Each material was measured using the same form. the water was directed down toward the materials at a 6 pitch (every 6 inches of decline resulted in 1 foot)

Results
Sand completely eroded in nine seconds. The dirt/soil completely eroded in twenty three seconds The rocks were completely in tack just how they were placed.

Conclusion
==The sand was unable to stop eroding,it took only 9, seconds before it was completely gone. The dirt was better but still not effective for stopping the water erosion. The rocks were the the best at preventing erosion.==

Benefit to Community and/or Science
the benefit to the community is that it will help people that have land next to rivers like the Saco.

Background Research
water is the most common erosion technique we see here in NH. Most commonly we see it in rivers and streams also during thaw. In streams, water is a very powerful erosional agent. The faster water moves in streams the larger objects it can pick up and diposit. This is known as critical erosion velocity. Fine sand can be moved by streams flowing as slowly as three-quarters of a mile per hour. Streams erode their banks in three different ways: 1. the hydraulic action of the water itself moves the sediments, 2.water acts to corrode sediments by removing ions and dissolving them, and 3. particles in the water strike bedrock and erode it. The water of streams can erode in three different places: 1. lateral erosion erodes the sediment on the sides of the stream channel, 2. down cutting erodes the stream bed deeper, and 3) head ward erosion e rodes the channel upslope. Erosion can create other land forms by the caring of sediment downstream towards the ocean. That sediment slowly builds up and creates new wetlands at the mouth of the river.
 * Erosion ** is the process that breaks things down. Erosion is the breakdown of the continents and the land around you.Weathering and erosion always happen in a downhill direction.

Abstract
In NH we have trouble with flooding and the erosion of land due to melting and heavy rains. so I took four different materials that commonly used to prevent erosion of land due to melting and heavy rains so I took four different materials that are commonly used to prevent erosion and tested which one would stand up to flowing water best.