Cupcake Geology Lab
Introduction:
As we’ve learned so far, Earth has many different rock layers that
make up the crust. These layers get deposited one at a time and at different
rates and volumes. Geologists take sediment cores to determine what type of
rock and how much of it are beneath the surface. Today we will be taking
cores just like a geologist, only using a cupcake. You will figure out the
“rock” composition of your cupcake and determine how old your cupcake
might be!
Question:
How old is the cupcake? What is the composition?
Hypothesis:
Procedure:
Everyone will need to get a cupcake, a straw, a ruler, a paper towel,
and some colored pencils. You will be taking 3 cores of your cupcake and
recording the color, the thickness of each layer, and the location of your core
on the cupcake figure in the “data” section. Here’s the step by step
procedure:
1. Dip the end of your straw into the dish of cooking oil
2. Slowly insert your straw into the middle of your cupcake. Once it hits
the bottom, slowly pull it out. You now should have a core in your
straw.
3. Now blow lightly on the other end of the straw over your paper towel,
so that the core comes out and is on your paper towel.
4. Measure in centimeters from the bottom of the cupcake the thickness
and color of each layer and record in the “data” section.
5. Repeat steps 1-5 twice more, taking your cores to the left and to the
right of your first cupcake core.
6. Once you have filled in your data table, predict (drawn in) what you
think the stratigraphy of the cupcake looks like.
7. Calculate how old each of your cupcake cores are using the table
provided.
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program
Data:
Core #___
Core #___
Core #___
Color Thickness(cm)
Color Thickness(cm)
Color Thickness(cm)
___________ ______
____________ ______
____________ ______
___________ ______
____________ ______
____________ ______
___________ ______
____________ ______
____________ ______
___________ ______
____________ ______
____________ ______
___________ ______
____________ ______
____________ ______
Data Analysis:
Color age table:
Color
White frosting (surface layer)
Yellow (sand)
Orange (carbon)
Blue (granite)
Green (quartz)
Red (peat)
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program
Earth Age (per cm)
17, 000 years
5,000 years
500,000 years
45,000 years
70,000 years
5,000 years
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program
Core #1:
Thickness (cm)
x
color age/cm
=
partial age
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
Total core age = ________________
Core #2:
Thickness (cm)
x
color age/cm
=
partial age
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
Total core age = ________________
Core #3:
Thickness (cm)
x
color age/cm
=
partial age
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
_____________
x ______________ = _______________
Total core age = ________________
Total average age of cupcake = _____________
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program
Questions:
1. How old was your cupcake?
2. What rock layer would you expect to find fossils?
3. Were there any layers that seemed out of order? Which
ones?
4. Explain a geological process that could have created this
layering.
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program
5. Compare your cores- how were they alike? How were
they different? What could cause this?
6. Cut open your cupcake along the 3 rock cores you
collected- is the stratigraphy like you predicted? What is
different?
7. Where on Earth would you expect to find your cupcake?
Kristin Schild, Dartmouth GK-12 Program