SFP- Flooding Down the Road

By: Jordan Meriwether

Friday, May 9, 14

IntroductionDifferent environments are affected in various ways to flooding, but the worst area to live in is at the bottom of a hill which is where all the water from above will soon come. Throughout this experiment the different absorption density and environments in science to determine my outcome. By the end of this both which streets that are best and worst during a flash flood will be discovered. Out of concrete, wood, sand, dirt, and clay clay seems like the worst environment to live on. The terrains were average materials that people lived on or they are material that could work potentially as ground.

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Hypothesis

I hypothesized that clay will give off the greatest amount of water dirt will give off the least. I feel the water will have separate effects depending on the density of the terrain, for example harder materials will let off more water while looser softer materials will absorb and hold the water. I have seen it multiple times before in the news, how water is flooding the streets and not the grass.

since they both have completely different densities so their water intake extremely differently. It having no pores to catch water, due to not being oxidized in its creation unlike concrete, so water will immediately slide off it. The least water run off will come from the dirt since it will have a lower density and also absorb the water and be able to hold without releasing.

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Experimental Design

Variables: Controlled variables: The slopes’ 150 degree angles the slopes themselves, the 2

cups of water being use, 4 cups of each material, and the four non absorbent sponges.

Independent variable: The terrain of the slopes Dependent variable: The water Run-off

Groups: Control group: Dirt Experimental group #1:Sand Experimental group #2:Cement Experimental group #3:Clay

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Materialstwo boxes slopesprotractorsanddirt claycementduct tape non absorbent foamscissors measuring cups water

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Procedures

1. Gather identical two boxes and cut a square starting at the bottom up 4.5inches and across.

2. Gather four identical 16.5inch long slopes or any none traction surface that can hold materials.

3. Stick the slopes through the hole to the top back of the box there should be two per box.

4. Measure to make sure that it sticks out the top of the box by 6 inches.5. Take a protractor and measure the slope to be 150 degrees inside the box.6. Stick non absorbent foam wedged between the box and the slope to hold in water.7. Place 4 Cups of each material separately among the slopes.8. Get 2 Cups of water for each slope.9. Pour the total 4 Cups of water over each slope.10.Record findings.

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Mass Volume

Sand- 2.16 lbs Cement - 3.6 lb 4 .54 Density 4 .9 Density

Dirt- .6 lbs         Clay -1 lb   4 15 Density          4 .25 Density

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Analysis/Observation

Analysis:Based on the finding of the graph it can be seen that throughout all of these trails

were very constant, this probably do the constant usage of the same amount of every thing. It can also been seen that the differences of the sand compared with the rest is quite extreme At first I would believe it was the because the huge density differences, after finding the densities I found they don’t match at all.

Observations:Though would originally I thought that the absorption was based on the density of

the soil, but then the density graph and the absorption graph would correspond. What I found is that their is no real connection in this case between the density and the amount of water released.

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Discussion

I had predicted that clay would absorb the least amount of water out of all of the terrains and dirt would absorb the most.

This is do to its creation since it was created to stay hard without adjusting to the air around it like concrete its smooth surface

became smoother than any other. There was also the factor that it could reach a hardness very similar to concrete, with the

hardness of concrete and no ridges or pores to catch water it was not able to absorb water. As for the sand, it did not actually

absorb the water it reformed to around the water to catch it all.

Before the experiment I have checked the densities which are the weights over the amount of each I used and found that the

dirt had the lowest density while concrete had the highest, but still clay seemed to have a much smoother surface than concrete

so I expected that clay would have more run of since it have a no where to catch water. After the experiment I saw that I was

correct and also wrong with my results due to the clay being the most impermeable, but the sand being the most permeable

while also being able to hold water.

The only issues I had throughout my project where the spreading of the materials, since sand and dirt are loose they can

easily fit into place but clay and concrete have to be imperfectly molded. Shape could also be affected by the them drying since

when that happens it shrinks and cracks.

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Concluesion

In conclusion, it can be seen that sand did the absolute best holding back the water, while clay did the worst. This is a surprise to me because I believed that dirt was going to hold back the most due to being able to hold water inside of itself. Though, I found that sand can hold water and even though it slips through the cracks in the sand can reshape to hold water much quicker than Dirt can. Plus the pure concentrations of each material inside the slopes was higher in sand due to me not adjusting the quantities to match in weight.

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Acknowledgement

• Mr. Sherif

• Dell Meriwether

• Kelly Brandt

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Bibliography

Floods. January 1, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.weather.gov/pbz/floods

Absorption. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/absorption-info.htm

Howard Perlman (12/20/13). Runoff. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/runoff.html

(12/23/13) Flood Facts. January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flood_facts.jsp18/2013).

Floods. January 1, 2014, retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/floods

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