Watershed Representation

Purpose:
To gain a visual and conceptual understanding of watershed characteristics.

Materials:

one sheet of plain white paper
several sheets of old newspaper
one water-based marker
one spray bottle containing water (set on mist setting)




Procedure:
Prior to beginning, place the newspaper sheets over the kitchen counter several sheets thick (5 or so) where you will be working. This should help protect the area from any possible staining from the activity even though you are using water-based markers that should not stain.

Note: If you have wax paper it will work better than the newspaper at protecting the counter tops.

1. Crumple the sheet of paper into a LOOSE wad!

2. Uncrumple the sheet of paper so you can lay it on a kitchen counter. The paper should not be flat, but should be puffed up from the crumpling.

Note: If you put your imagination cap on and look at the crumpled paper, you should be able to imagine mountains, hills, valleys, and other landscape features. If your paper is so flat you can't see these features in your mind's eye you should "unflatten" it or start again.

3. Take the marker and color the major and some of the minor folds/ridges in the paper. Do not allow the marker to color any other part of the paper.

4. Make sure all the ridges are colored, and put your marker away. Place the paper on top of the newspaper on the counter, and lightly mist the piece of paper with the spray bottle. Don't spray too heavily, 3 - 7 squirts will probably do the job. Note: What you want to see are colored rivulets flowing over the paper.

5. Stop misting as soon as you see some of the colored water starting to pool, and just watch for a few moments as the stream patterns develop over the page.

6. Observe the flow of the water over your sheet of paper as indicated by the streams of color flowing from the ridges.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• water
• watershed
• science
• project
• environment

[petebob15]

Thank god. I hate this class...