VanCleave's Science Fun

Your Guide to Science Projects, Fun Experiments, and Science Research

ABOUT THE SOUND PICTURE

With mouth wide open, vibrating air coming up the throat from the vocal chords leaving the open mouth and spreading in all directions. Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50+ best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years and now am creating this science website.   My scream was not staged. The picture was to be of two adult cats, which I was holding. A microsecond before the camera snapped, the two cats dug their claws into my skin as they prepared to leap out of my arms. A picture like this is great for making inferences. Kids could make "guesses" as to why I am screaming. They would be drawing on facts from the photo, such as I look like I am in pain or maybe I am just pretending.

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Home » Sedimentary Rock:Cementing

Sedimentary Rock:Cementing

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Sedimentary rock are layers of sediments cemented together.The basic steps of this process are:

black-round-bullet1 Deposition of sediment. The transfer of sediments (soil particles) from one place to another causing layers after layer to form.

black-round-bullet1 Compaction of sediment. The squeezing together of sediments.

black-round-bullet1 Cementing sediment. The gluing together of sediments.

During compaction the air and water is squeezed out of the spaces between the particles, but some substances  that had been dissolved in the water may be left behind. These substances form a thin layer around the particles and bind them together.

Corrugated cardboard can be used to demonstrate the cementation process needed to form sedimentary rock.

Discover for Yourself.rock-sedimentary-cementing

black-round-bullet1 Squeeze a zig-zag pattern of glue over the surface of a 4-inch (10-cm) square pieces of corrugated cardboard.

black-round-bullet1 Place a second equal-size  piece of cardboard over the glue-covered surface of the first. Turn the top piece so that the tunnels running through the cardboard are perpendicular to the tunnels in the other cardboard piece.

black-round-bullet1 Use the same procedure to glue a third equal-size piece of cardboard on top.

black-round-bullet1 Allow the glue to dry.

Summary: The cardboard pieces represent layers of sediments and the glue represents the minerals in water that cement the sediments together.

For more information about the formation of rocks, see Janice VanCleave’s Rocks and Minerals.rocks-and-minerals1