Activity – Chocolate Mantle Convection

I. Objective
To illustrate how heat works in the mantle.
II. Materials Needed
 Pan
 Chocolate powder
 Water
III. Procedure
1. Put water in the pan. Sprinkle it with chocolate powder until the top is thickly covered
with dry powder.
2. Place the pan on a heat source (gas stove) on low heat. Be careful while using the heat
source.
3. Let it boil for a few minutes. Observe what happens.
IV. Data and Observation

V. Analysis
1. How is heat transferred in the activity? Give evidence to your answer.
First, the heat came from the lpg tank to the gas stove then it is transferred to the
pan. Then the heat from the pan was transferred to the water then to the chocolate
powder. As we can see in the picture, (before the heat was applied to the pan) there is no
reaction to the water or the chocolate powder. Then as we applied the heat to the pan in
the second picture, there is now a reaction to the water and the chocolate powder. The
heat was transferred to the water first since it is placed before the chocolate powder then
it acts as a flux that lowered the melting temperature of the chocolate powder and when it
reacted to the heat, it causes the chocolate powder to dissolve.
2. Describe what happens to the powder when the water starts to boil. Explain why this
occurs.
When the water started to boil, the chocolate powder started to form bubbles and
it is being dissolved faster than when the water is still not boiling. This happened
because the addition of water to the chocolate powder lowered its melting temperature
causing it to dissolve faster,
 3. How does this activity relate to the formation of magma?
The chocolate powder was like the rock located along the zones of subduction, the
pan is like the upper part of Earth’s mantle or the lower part of Earth’s crust and the heat
from the gas stove was like the heat coming from the earth. Just like how magma forms in
the subduction zone (but here in the pan), the water released from the sinking oceanic
crust being introduced into the mantle is like how we added water to the chocolate powder
(rock) that lowered its melting temperature. The heat coming from the gas stove is like the
heat coming from the core of the earth transferring to the pan (mantle) which made the
water boil that induced melting of the chocolate powder (rock) that causes the magma to
form and to erupt just like how the solution forms bubbles.

VI. Conclusion
The Earth's mantle has convection currents that revolves around two major
processes: conduction and convection. Through the process of conduction, heat flows
from warmer objects to cooler objects. The lower mantle is heated directly
by conduction from the core and in this  conduction, heat is transferred as atoms collide.
Hot lower mantle material rises upward and as it rises, it cools. At the top of the mantle it
moves horizontally and over time it becomes cool and dense enough that it sinks. Back at
the bottom of the mantle, it travels horizontally which will eventually lead to the movement
of the material to the location where warm mantle material is rising. The rising and sinking
of warm and cooler material is called convection.