Fast Flowing Water
The river in Filzmoos comes down from the mountains. When we walked along the bank it was full because it had been raining. Here is Libby showing you some of the features on the surface that tell us how quickly the water is flowing beneath:
Erosion
by Abigail
In the mountains we have seen 'V' shaped valleys which means that they were formed by water erosion. We also saw a 'U' shaped valley which means it was formed by ice.
Here are some pictures of the V shaped valley. We saw this in the Pyrenees
This U shaped valley is in Filzmoos
The navigation experiment: Tuesday 19th May 2009
Introduction
We have used a compass to see what direction we are going in. The compass is made with a magnetic ponter. We did an experiment to find out why a magnet.
Today we did a science experiment and this is what we did.
Experiment
First: We filled up a bowl of water.
Second: We made a boat out of a milk bottle lid and put a small magnet into it, so that the magnet floated freely on the water.
After that we span it around and we waited to let it settle and see which way it pointed.
Observations
We noticed that the magnet was pointing pretty much the same direction every time
Conclusion
A magnet is used in a compass because it always points in the same direction
Some video of a the experiment
How Locks Work
How a canal lock works
We saw a lock on the canal du midi and stopped to have a look. We saw some boats go through and had a go at filming it. To make it clearer Libby has made a cartoon to show how it works, and written an explanation
For a boat to move downhill in a canal, a lock is used. First of all the level of the water in the lock is made to match the higher level of the river. This happens by letting the water into the lock from the river at A, and closing the gate at B.
Once the level is the same, gate A can open and let the boat in. Next A is closed and water is let out at B into the river so that the water in the lock is level with the lower river. When it reaches this level gate B is opened and the boat can carry on with its journey
by Libby