- Show pupils a video clip of a volcanic eruption, asking them to observe that magma can flow out as lava or be blasted out as ash, and compare the resulting rocks. Ask them to suggest the origin of the magma. Remind pupils that they have considered two kinds of rock, sedimentary and metamorphic. Explain that there is a third type, igneous rock.
- Ask pupils to find out how they can make larger or smaller crystals from melted salol to illustrate the behaviour of cooling magma. Establish the link between cooling rates and size of crystals produced.
- Model the effects of cooling rates on crystal size, with pupils representing atoms free to move around in an open space, as in a melt. On cooling, indicated by a signal, pupils stick together to begin forming crystals. The longer this goes on, the larger and fewer the crystals will become. Ask pupils to relate differences in crystal size (number of pupils bonded) and number of crystals (number of groups of pupils) to cooling time and to explain in terms of the particle model of matter.
- Provide pupils with a variety of rock samples and ask them to classify them into types of rock,
eg igneous and non-igneous, and then to subdivide them into rapid- and slow-cooling types, and/or suggesting where they were formed,
eg
- obsidian (glasslike, very fast cooling on surface)
- pumice (gas bubbles, fast cooling on surface)
- basalt (small crystals, moderate cooling near surface)
- gabbro/granite (large crystals, slow cooling in the Earth)
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- name some igneous rocks
- describe how hot liquid magma can flow out of volcanoes as lava and solidify or be blown out as ash which settles
- describe how some rocks are formed when magma solidifies and these are called igneous rocks
- relate speed of cooling to crystal size and explain this in terms of the particle model
- relate the size of grain to where the crystal was formed,
eg it has small crystals, so it cooled fast and was probably formed near the Earth's surface
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