Question

Your model showed the role of the movement of Earth’s mantle in the movement of Earth’s plates. Use the drop-down menus to describe how your model represented this idea.





Which part of plate tectonics do the pieces of paper represent?

Which part of plate tectonics does the movement of food coloring represent?

Which part of plate tectonics does the candle represent?

Answer 1

- Pieces of paper = the tectonic plates (the rigid lithosphere/crust that rides on the mantle).
(They float and move relative to each other like plates.)

- Movement of the food coloring = convection currents in the mantle (movement of hotter, buoyant material rising and cooler material sinking).
(The dye traces the flow that carries the plates.)

- Candle = the internal heat source of Earth (heat from the core and radioactive decay that drives mantle convection).
(The candle provides the thermal gradient that causes the fluid flow.)