Videos - Earth's Crust

Geology Kitchen #1 - What is a mineral?

Episode 1 introduces the concept of a mineral. The video introduces mineral properties using common fruit and vegetables as analogies for these five descriptive criteria. The video also demonstrates the orderly crystalline structure of halite (NaCl) using a model made of food (marshmallows and grapes). Comparisons between common substances such as ice and glass versus the mineral definition are made to illustrate the specific nature of the mineral definition.

(* in Grade 7, we don't worry about #3 - Chemical Composition or #4 - Crystalline Structure)

Videos - Earth's Crust

Gr. 7 Home

Science

Geology Kitchen #2 - Identifying Minerals

Episode 2 expands on the mineral concept by discussing the characteristics of minerals used in mineral identification.

Geology Kitchen - The Three Types of Rocks

Geologist Devin Dennie heads to the kitchen to demonstrate the differences between the three types of rocks.

(I really wish that he had made rice krispie squares for his sedimentary rock demonstration! The melted marshmallow would have shown cementation and pressing it into the pan would have represented compaction.)

Geology Kitchen #8 - Layers of the Earth

Devin whips up a model of the layers of the earth using ingredients from the kitchen

Geology Kitchen #9 - Plate Tectonics

This episode discusses the scientific theory of plate tectonics, in which the Earth's crust is subdivided into a series of large and small tectonic plates. Convergent, divergent or transform boundaries are discussed and demonstrated with brittle graham crackers and icing to illustrate the motions of the plates at these boundaries. A second demonstration consisting of heating cream in a pan, representing convecting upper mantle, driving a relatively brittle layer of cocoa powder (the Crust).