Name______________________________
Glacier Group
Purpose
To determine which of the
following parameters – slope, ‗ice‘
temperature, or basal conditions –
affects the glacier speed the most.
Lesson Overview
This lesson is intended to teach
students about variables that affect
glacier flow: ice (flubber) temperature,
slope, and basal conditions. Students
will conduct an experiment to examine
which of these factor influences
glacier speed.
Materials
Rulers
Flubber (optional 3 different
colors, blue (cold), white
(normal), and red (warm) see
recipe in appendix
PVC pipe cut in half (61 cm
(24‖) long 10 cm (4.0‖) inner
diameter)
150 grit Sandpaper (rough
base)
Tinfoil and cooking spray (wet
base)
Stopwatches
Protractor
Tape
Toothpicks
Graph paper
Fig 1 Satellite image of three glaciers
converging in one valley, Alaska.
Mars Landforms – Glacier Lab – Student’s version
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Why studying glaciers is important?
Scientific data, whether taken in the field or
relayed from satellites orbiting Earth or Mars,
form the foundation for the scientific research
that informs the world about our planet and our
climate systems. Because they are so
sensitive to temperature fluctuations, glaciers
provide clues about the effects of climate and
global warming. Knowing which factors control
glacier mobility allows scientists better model
and more accurately predict what will happen
to glaciers in response to Earth‘s changing
climate.
Fig. 2 A three-dimensional image of
Mars’ South Pole glacier.
Procedure
First mark the half-pipe with a start, middle and finish lines along the length of pipe.
Be sure to leave 13 cm (5 inches) at the top of the half-pipe to give you an area to place
the flubber at the start.
The single recipe of flubber makes an appropriate amount to use for the
experiments, with the exception of experiment 4, which uses half the amount of flubber.
Before placing the flubber in the half-pipe to start the trial, ball it up place it in the halfpipe but don‘t handle it too much so as not to warm the flubber and hold it in place for a
few seconds at the top of the so that it grips the sides of the half-pipe.
NOTE: Don‘t get the flubber on carpets, upholstery, wood furniture, paper, or pets.
Enough water will dissolve the mixture - sometimes. Try to keep clean — dirt will allow
mold to grow on the mixture. When not in use keep in container.
Before the students begin the glacier experiment, have them hypothesize what will
happen and write down their predictions. Which factor will cause the flubber to flow
more quickly: temperature, slope, or basal condition? How would environmental
conditions produce these factors in a glacier?
EXPERIMENT 1: Slope Effects
First experiment will test how changes in slope affect glacier flow. Students will test
whether ―ice‖ flows at the same velocity at slopes of 30 , 40 , and 50 . Use the same
temperature flubber in all trials.
1. Incline half-pipe at 30 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
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4. Record the time when flubber reaches the halfway point
5. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
6. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 but this time incline the half-pipe to 40 .
8. Repeat steps 2 through 6 but this time incline the half-pipe to 50 .
EXPERIMENT 2: Basal Roughness
The next experiment will test how changes in basal condition affect glacier flow.
Students will test whether ―ice‖ flows at the same velocity with varying basal condition
from rough, to smooth, to lubricated. Use the same temperature flubber in all trials.
Part 1: If you did experiment 1 then you can skip to part 2 of experiment 2 and write
your results from experiment 1 in the data sheet for this part.
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
5. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Part 2:
1. Line the inside of the half pipe with 150 grit sand paper between the start and finish
lines. Cut sheet of sand paper in half and tape down the two halves at the ends.
Double sided tape may be used to help conform the sandpaper to the half-pipe.
2. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
3. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
4. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
5. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
6. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
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Part 3:
1. Line the inside of the half pipe with aluminum foil between the start and finish lines,
place tape at both ends.
2. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
3. Lubricate foil lined half-pipe with 2 Tbls. of cooking oil.
4. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
5. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
6. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
7. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
EXPERIMENT 3: Temperature Dependence
The next experiment will test how variations in ice temperature affect glacier flow.
Flubber will be heated (either microwaved until warm to the touch, about 1 minute, or
left in the Sun), kept a room temperature, and cooled (either chill briefly in the freezer or
kept in a cooler on ice).
Part 1: If you did experiment 1 then you can skip to part 2 of experiment 3 and write
your results from experiment 1 in the data sheet for this part.
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place room temperature flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
5. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Part 2:
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place warmed flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
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5. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Part 3:
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place chilled temperature flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
5. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
EXPERIMENT 4: Mass Dependence
This next experiment will test whether the mass has any bearing on flow velocity of the
―glacier‖.
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place half the amount of flubber used in experiment 1 at top of pipe, behind start
line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Record the time when flubber reaches the halfway point
5. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
6. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Experiment 5 (Optional): Multi-component analysis
This optional experiment will test the response of varying two factors: temperature
and basalt condition. Experiments two and three tested these variables independently,
but here students are going to measure these factors simultaneously. Students will test
whether varying flubber temperature (e.g., heated, kept a room temperature, and
cooled) and basal condition (rough, to smooth, to lubricated) simultaneously will return
different results than predicted from experiments two and three.
On the basis of experiments two and three, have students hypothesize the velocity
for each experiment (there are nine experiments in this section, 3 different temperatures
and 3 different basal conditions) and place them in order of slowest to fastest, and
briefly describe why/how they came up with that list.
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Conduct experiments A, B, and C with the same temperature flubber, and then
repeat the experiments with flubber of a different temperature.
Part A:
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
4. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
5. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Part B:
1. Line the inside of the half pipe with 150 grit sand paper between the start and finish
lines. Cut sheet of sand paper in half and tape down the two halves at the ends.
Double sided tape may be used to help conform the sandpaper to the half-pipe.
2. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
3. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
4. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
5. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
6. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
Part C:
1. Line the inside of the half pipe with aluminum foil between the start and finish lines,
place tape at both ends.
2. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
3. Lubricate foil lined half-pipe with cooking spray.
4. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
5. Start timing the flubber when it crosses the start line
6. Stop timing when the flubber crosses the finish line
7. Record time and distance results in lab sheet
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Experiment 6 (optional): Glacier Deformation
For this experiment, push toothpicks (vertically) into the surface of the flubber. Draw
how they move/change direction during the experiment. What do you think this means
about how the flubber is flowing?
1. Incline half-pipe at 40 . Check degree of inclination with protractor.
2. Place flubber at top of pipe, behind start line.
3. Push toothpicks (vertically) into the surface of the flubber so they make a 4 by 4 array
of toothpicks.
Draw picture here
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Glacier Experiment Lab Sheet:
Remember velocity = distance divided by time.
Experiment
Condition
Distance
1 – Slope Effects
Half-distance
30 Incline
Full-distance
30 Incline
Half-distance
40 Incline
Full-distance
40 Incline
Half-distance
50 Incline
Full-distance
50 Incline
2 – Basal Roughness
Normal PVC
Sandpaper
Al-foil & oil
3 – Temperature Dependence
Room Temp.
Warmed
Chilled
4 – Mass Dependence
Half-distance
40 Incline
Full-distance
40 Incline
5 – Multi component
Flubber Temp. Basal Condition
Room Temp.
Normal PVC
Sandpaper
Al-foil & oil
Warmed
Normal PVC
Sandpaper
Al-foil & oil
Chilled
Normal PVC
Sandpaper
Al-foil & oil
Time
Velocity
Questions (You will need read the background reading in order to answer some of
these questions)
1. Plot the velocity of all experiments conducted so that they all fit on the same graph.
2. Compare your hypotheses with the data. Consider experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4 which
experiment produced ―ice‖ flows of the greatest velocity and which experiment produce
flows with the slowest velocity. How do these results compare with your original
hypotheses?
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3. Eliminating the exterior variables that cause glaciers to flow (e.g., ice temperature,
basalt condition and incline), what causes glaciers to move at all? Hint: combine the
data from experiment 1, half and full distance time on the 40 incline, and experiment 4
to construct your hypothesis.
4. Compare and contrast the properties (e.g., temperature, rheology or ability to flow) of
flubber and ice.
5. What properties of a glacier did flubber simulate well and which did it no simulate
well. On this basis determine whether flubber is a good analog to ice?
6. Can the advance or retreat of glaciers serve as evidence for changes in climate or
season? Cite your experiments as evidence where appropriate.
Expected Results
Result #1:
Flubber flowed faster over steep slopes – flubber was not as sensitive to changes in
slope as was expected. This experiment works best within a fairly narrow range of
slopes (slopes that are too small prevent flow and slopes that are too high cause the
flubber to roll instead of flow down the PVC pipe!)
Result #2:
Flubber consistently flowed faster over the ‗wet‘ bed than the ‗rough‘ one.
Result #3:
Warm flubber flowed the fastest, and cold flubber flowed the slowest (regardless of
the basal conditions Experiment #4).
Result #4 (High level observation, not expectant to recognize):
While results are not entirely realistic (the temperature range of flubber greatly
exaggerates the natural range of ice temperatures), the activity illustrates that ice
velocity is sensitive to a number of different variables.
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