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Home > For Teachers
> Cementation Activity - The Toughest Sandcastle
How is sand changed into sandstone? Make some sandcastles that will stand up to the test and show how sedimentary rocks can be made.
The Toughest Sandcastle
What you will need: Sand to make sandcastles; a tray to make them in; several yoghurt pots (or plastic cups); teaspoon; dessert spoon; salt; plaster of paris; soil.
The challenge: Make the toughest sandcastle you can. Try out different tests to find out which one is toughest next day.
Try it this way: Make different sorts of sandcastles in your 'buckets' (yoghurt pots or cut down plastic cups) using a spoon for a 'spade'. Try damp sand; sand damped with water that has had lots of salt stirred into it; a plaster of Paris and water mixture with added sand; a sand soil mixture. You might be able to think of some other ways of 'gluing' the sand grains together yourself. Leave them all to dry and then test them next day to find the toughest one.
What happens and
why: Which one was the toughest? Which broke down most easily? This
exploration shows how sand is changed into sandstone - when the sand grains
are 'glued' together by natural 'glue'. When the glue isn't very strong
or there isn't much of it, the rocks are soft. Tough sandstone means tough
cement.
- Be sure to check out our other activity dealing with cementation:
- Click here to view a complete list of activities that our site has to offer.
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This page was last updated on December 4, 2000
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