Experiment | Make a Sedimentary Rock
Approximate time to complete: 30-45 minutes + waiting time + questions and journal time
Experiment Card
Click below to download and print this experiment card:
About This Activity
In this activity, you will make a sedimentary rock out of different colors of “sediment”.
You’ll Learn
- How sedimentary rocks form.
Pre-Activity Questions
- Have you ever seen a rock or a mountain that has stripes? Or layers?
Materials
- Equal number pieces of different colored Jolly Ranchers hard candy
- Plastic bag
- Hammer + surface to hammer on
- 2 plastic beakers
- Heavy can
Procedure
- Put 1 color of candy into the plastic bag.
- Hit the candy with the hammer to crush it into small pieces.
- Pour the candy pieces into a plastic beaker.
- Repeat steps 1-3 with the other candy colors, pouring one candy color on top of the other.
- Put the other empty beaker on the top layer of candy.
- Put a heavy can on top of the beaker, and leave it overnight.
- Remove the heavy can and the top beaker.
- Carefully flip the candy beaker onto a flat surface, and gently try to remove the candy from the beaker.
Questions & Further Research
Use these questions as a guide to write a journal entry, make a poster, give a presentation, or write a research report about this activity or a related topic.
- What did the candy look like when it came out of your beaker?
- Which layer of your candy rock is the “oldest”? Which is the “youngest”?
- Find some photos of rocks that look like the candy did when you took it out of the beaker. What kind of rocks are they?
- The thing you made looks like a rock, but is it really rock? Explain why you think it is, or isn’t.
- Talk about how this demonstration relates to sedimentation.
Extension
- Take a look at your 3 Major Types of Rock Nomenclature and Sorting Cards if you haven’t already!