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Adventure #2:
To start, let's find your own little boat. As a "boat" you will use a stick you found somewhere. We do not want to add any pollution to the stream by making paper boats. As you will learn later, pollution is a big issue in streams.
Now that you've found your own "boat", ask a responsible adult to join you in going to a stream. Scientists take safety very seriously and will always have someone with them that they can trust. The adult can be your own field assistant for a day. When selecting a stream, make sure you are going to a little stream where the velocity is not too high and the stream is not too wide so you can safely launch your equipment.Â
Remember: SAFETY FIRST!
Time to launch your equipment!
You will need your stick boat, a stopwatch, and a measuring device.
In the following illustration, you can see the setup. Measure a distance along the stream where you want to know the discharge. Place some markers at the beginning and end so you know where to put your boat in and out of the stream. Have someone stand on the end with a stopwatch. When you put in your boat upstream, start the stopwatch. When the boat crosses the "out" line, stop the time. Write all this information (data) down to analyze it when you are back home.
When you know the time and distance here is an example on how to proceed:
data:
17 sec
4 meter distance
Therefore the velocity is 4 m/17 sec
However, this is difficult to understand how fast it actually flows right? So, let's change it to something more understandable by simply dividing 4 by 17. Which is 0.25 m/s.
If you would like to know it in km/hour, multiply it by 3.6. Which is 0.9 km/hr for this example
To know it in miles per hour. multiply the number by 2.237. Which is 0.56 mph for this example.
Now that you're done learning about different streams, discharge, and velocity, it's time to see what streams actually do to our landscape. Click the button below to continue Adventure #2!
Now that you're done learning about different streams, discharge, and velocity, it's time to see what streams actually do to our landscape. Click the button below to continue Adventure #2!
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