Comment on cooking with geology! by mmmmmcake

Amy Oyler and his daughter Kat light on many scientific adventures educational program Kat homeschooling. Amy wrote their experiences on his blog, the scientist MOM. Here are some excerpts of one of their latest adventures, baking with geology!

BAKING WITH GEOLOGY!

In April, Kat and I started our big geology project. We have learned a lot about the geological history of Arizona and has even taken our lessons in the field!

The Earth's crust is divided into four main layers: crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. The crust is thick, the thinnest at the level of the ocean layer (up to 5 km thick) of about 5-30 km and the thickest layer at the continental (up to 30 km thick). The coat is thick of about 1,800 km and consists of rock is not quite liquid-very-solid. The outer core is approximately 400 miles thick and composed of liquid iron and nickel. The inner core is approximately 900 miles thick and composed of a ball solid, incredibly dense super hot iron and nickel.

Now, these are all pretty basic things that we read when learning about the layers of the Earth, but what does it really mean? How do you get a grip on these distances, layers, and what it looks like even to? For this question, we had to get in the kitchen and make us a cake!

A CAKE OF EARTH'S MANTLE

Our layer cakes was inspired by this recipe, provided by the Department of Earth Sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Necessary material:

It comes from where you have to have fun and be creative! Think about the layers of the Earth and what they are made. Where can you find a liquid rock? What is rock that is soft and plastic like? Where can you find fossils? Maybe you can play with the addition of the fossils in the layers of your cake for your children to dig. Whatever you decide, be ready to have fun and get MESSY!

Sponge cake (or any combination of robust cake) and the ingredients necessary to prepare the mold from bread or ban cake itSmall (we used a loaf Pan) nonstick cooking sprayNewspaper or foil to cover your withSomething work surface to use as a layer of liquid (we used them icing and caramel pudding) food coloringSomething as rocks and bedrock (we used walnuts) something to use as dirt)We used cookies)

Procedure:

Prepare your batter cake according to directions on the box. Pour a thin layer (about 1/2 inch of your bread pan. If you choose to do so, you can add a few drops of dye for your food-color layer.Cook your cake from half an inch to the temperature recommended in the instructions for your cake mix. We our in the oven for 10 minutes, using the toothpick test to make sure that this has been done.When your cake is finished, throw on your work surface and add another layer of half-inch of dough. This color if you choose it and bake again for about 10 minutes (or until done). Repeat until you have 3 layers of cake.Now is the time for decoration! One of these layers will be the inner core, another will be the coat and the final layer will be the crust. It is for you to decide what is happening between everything! Your color icing, add milk, add some nuts chopped or marshmallows for your rocks and fossils. Be creative and be annoying.

The last step will of course be the most fun that you and your children arrive to dig into this huge cake of Earth!

For more fun science Geology as mapping plates tectonic and igneous Meltdown, station sedimentation under pressure, see Amy's full post on the science MOM, cooking in the oven with the geology!

If you liked this post and you want to see more of the adventures of Kat and Amy on MAKE, let us know in the comments!

Andrew Terranova is an electrical engineer and a fan of electronics and robotics. He is an active member of the community we will make Robots and manages public relations for the site. It contributes to making his own blog blog and other social media sites. Andrew has worked to teach young people to robotics. He has created and organized robotic exhibitions for the Museum of Somerset County, NJ's children and taught courses in robotics for the kaleidoscope Learning Center in Blairstown, NJ and a public elementary school. Andrew seeks to expand its knowledge and expertise in robotics and engage more deeply with the movement of the machine.