rocks_minerals_resources_lab_activity

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Rice University *

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566

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Geography

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Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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Rocks and Minerals as Resources Lab Activity Title : Cookie Mining Introduction: Like most resources, minerals are distributed unevenly around the world. Minerals are concentrated in various areas of Earth’s crust due to natural processes. Obtaining these minerals for human use involves four general steps: locating the minerals, extracting the minerals from Earth in the form of ore or rock, processing the ore to separate the impurities from the desired mineral, and creating a useful product from the minerals. In this lab activity, you will "purchase" a mine, "rent" your mining equipment, and be supervised by an "official." You will keep track of your expenses and your income to calculate your profit (or loss). Objectives : After doing this lab, you should be able to  evaluate the difficulty of mining and reclamation  calculate costs, expenses, income, and profit from a hands-on mining exercise  evaluate the effectiveness of reclamation and its added costs to mining  describe the increasing rarity of some non-renewable mineral resources Materials :  chocolate chip cookie  toothpicks (flat and round)  paperclips  graph paper  stopwatch, timer or clock with second hand Procedures: Note : Read all the instructions for this lab before you begin working! Pre-reading the procedure will give you a mental picture of what you will be doing and a better understanding of the process. 1. First, you (the miner) must decide which land area (cookie) you are going to mine and record this cost in your data table. The available “areas” and costs are listed below:  Store Brand: $4.00  Chips Ahoy™: $5.00  Keebler Chips Deluxe™: $6.00 2. After purchasing your land (cookie), the miner (that's you) must rent mining equipment and record this cost in your data table. The mining must be conducted with mining tools. Do not use your hands! The mining equipment costs are:  Flat Toothpick: $2.00  Round Toothpick: $5.00  Paperclip: $7.00

3. After purchasing your land (cookie) and equipment, the miner (you) places the cookie on a sheet of graph paper and traces the outline of the cookie. 4. The cost of mining and reclaiming your land (labor, etc.) is $2.00/minute. Both mining and reclamation must be timed! It is up to you how long you want to mine your cookie, but you must keep track of the time. You must pay for each minute you are working to extract your “minerals”. 5. Begin mining your cookie. You may not use your hands or fingers. Work on the graph paper. Only mining tools may be used. You decide when to stop the mining process. Your goal is to remove the chocolate chips (the ore) from the cookie (the mine). Multiple your mining time by your labor time and record the total cost of mining in your data table. 6. Do not dispose of the excess cookie material (keep everything on the graph paper). A parent or guardian should act as an “official” and randomly check to make sure that you are not using your hands or fingers in the mining process. 7. After the cookie has been mined, you must reclaim the land. To do this you must return the cookie to as close to the original shape and topography as possible. It must be placed back in the original circle. This may be done only with the mining tools. No fingers/hands are allowed! Your “official” should continue to check that you are following the rules. The topography of the mined land should closely resemble the original topography of the cookie. Be sure to record the time of the reclamation process in your data table. 8. Incomplete reclamation efforts are fined by the government. For each graph paper square that is now different than the original cookie (that means a square that used to have cookie on it and is now empty, or a square that used to be empty and now has cookie on it), record a penalty of $1 per square in your data table. 9. Be sure to record any fines for using your hands during mining or reclamation in your data table. 10. After your reclamation effort has been completed, the ore will be “sold.” The current price for ore is  Chocolate Chip: $2.00/chip  Note: You may combine broken chips to count as whole chips Data : Name (type) of Land Area (cookie type): Chip Ahoy, Chocolate Chip Cookie Costs and Revenue Table Costs Revenue Land Purchase Price of Land Area (cookie cost) =

$5.00 Equipment Flat Toothpick: _____0____ × $2.00 = ___0____ Round Toothpick: ___2____× $5.00 = __10_____ Paperclip: ____0_____ × $7.00 = ____0___ Replacement Costs (for broken equipment) = ____$0___ Total Equipment Rental Cost = _____$10______ Mining and Reclamation Mining & Reclamation Time: ___2____ minutes × $2.00/minute = ____$4_______ Number of chocolate chips obtained = ____7______ × $2.00 = ____$14______ Total Revenue Fines EPA assessed "using your hands" fine ($2.00/incidence) = _____$0____ EPA assessed reclamation fines ($1.00/un- reclaimed square) = ___$0______ Total Fines =____$0_______ To calculate your profits or losses, you must add together your costs and fines and subtract this total value from your revenue. (Revenue – Fines – Costs) = ____$14________ (a positive number shows a profit; negative shows a loss) Reflection Questions : 1. Describe the ways mining in the real world can affect society, ecosystems, and the environment of a specific region.

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