Rivers and coasts
Where does the rain actually go?
Does water soak into grass faster than into bare soil or paving?
Watch first
An English teaching video on this topic from iNewittAll. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
What you need
Tick each one as you find it — 0 of 5 ready.
Stay safe: Test away from doorsteps and drains, and dry any slippery paving afterwards.
Plan the fair test
- Change: The surface being tested
- Measure: Time in seconds for 500 ml to soak in
- Keep the same: Same volume of water, same tube depth, tests done on the same day
Objectives this evidences
- Understand rivers, coasts and glaciation and the physical processes that give rise to landscapes, and how they change over time
- Understand how geographical processes interact to create distinctive human and physical landscapes that change over time
Do it, one step at a time
Step 1 of 5
- Step 1. Push the open tube about 3 cm into a patch of grass so no water can escape at the sides.
- Step 2. Pour in 500 ml of water and start the timer.
- Step 3. Record how long it takes for the water to disappear, or the depth left after five minutes.
- Step 4. Repeat on bare soil, on compacted soil you have trodden on twenty times, and on a paved slab with a tray to catch the run-off.
- Step 5. Do each surface three times and work out a mean infiltration time.
What should happen
Grass drinks water fastest, compacted soil much slower, and paving not at all — it all becomes surface run-off. More impermeable surface means a shorter lag time and a higher flood peak.
Think about: Use your results to argue for one flood-management scheme a town could pay for.
Write up your result
A sentence or two is enough to save it.
The lessons behind this practical
Each one opens with the same short film, and the film has a written transcript underneath if reading is easier than watching.
Now the quiz for this topic
Questions come from the lessons behind this practical, so nothing is asked that has not been taught.
Quiz
Rivers and coasts quiz
4 questions from the lessons in this stage. No timer, and you can try again as many times as you like.