How to Build a Sand Dune for a School Project
Sand dunes are formed by an abundance of available sand and wind strong enough to disrupt and move the sand. Through a process known as "saltation," sand can be moved from one place to another by the force of wind. It is simple to construct a school project that depicts sand dunes and how they are created using a few items found around your house.
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Container
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Select a container to build your sand dune in. Size can be determined based on how much sand you have to work with. A 8-inch by 12-inch glass baking dish works well, as does any square or rectangular plastic container.
Sand
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Pour sand into the container to create a desert. Add as much sand as needed to be able to displace it using the "wind" generated from blowing through a plastic straw.
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Obstructions
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Place a few items in your desert, like a small stick, grass clumps or several small rocks. These will be used to demonstrate how they obstruct the wind and cause the sand to pile up into drifts.
Demonstration
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Demonstrate sand dunes, first by smoothing the surface of your "desert." Then, using your plastic straw, blow in one direction across the desert. Point out how the dunes form on the opposite sides of anything that blocks the oncoming wind. Smooth the sand out and demonstrate again from a different angle to reinforce the basic concept of how sand dunes are formed.
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References
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