What's inside the Treasure Jars?

‘What’s inside the

Treasure Jar?

I’ve been having a lot of interest in this activity recently in my science workshops.

The idea came to me a couple of years ago. Listening to Morning Edition on NPR, my attention was caught when an interview focused on the previous night’s meteor shower over Colorado.

Apparently, after such a shower, one can find magnetic meteorite dust by sweeping the ground with a magnet.

That gave me an idea…………..

A meteor shower, incidentally, is the result of an interaction between Earth and streams of debris from a comet. Each time a comet swings by the sun in its orbit, some of its ice vaporizes and a certain amount of meteoroids (iron based, so magnetic) are shed. The meteoroids  spread out along the entire orbit of the comet to form a meteoroid stream also known as a dust trail, and eventually fall to the earth below, waiting to be collected by young scientists.

So, soil collected on a walk might contain some iron particles which I call ‘moondust’ and can be discovered by using a magnet.

Resources:

• Treasure Jar
• Magnet and a small container to hold the magnet
• A tin
• A magnifying glass
• Small tin to use as a pocket museum

I fill a few jars with sandy soil, add a few artifacts (for example, petrified wood, a small quartz crystal, an ammonite, a couple of small sea shells, a small bone or two - whatever I have picked up on recent walks), and give one to each young scientist.

The jars are emptied on the table and the young scientists see what treasure they have.

Items are identified, glued and displayed in a pocket museum.

Then, I suggest the young scientists slowly move the magnet in the container over the soil.

If there’s any magnetic material in the earth, it will stick to the bottom of the container.

• Hold the container over the empty tin and remove the magnet.
• The moon dust will fall inside the bottom of the tin.

P.S.

Don’t forget to recommend the young scientists label their tins and date it - and, hey, you have a Pocket Museum filled with interesting items plus MOONDUST!!

JP