This activity demonstrates to students how water temperature and the concentration of dissolved and suspended solids affect the density of sea water. They will use various materials, such as salt and food coloring, to create and test water of different densities and record the time it takes drops of different water to sink through a mineral oil cylinder. In the second part of the activity, students ... Full description.

In this activity students will discover that the density of water changes if its properties are altered by adding salt. They will also learn that when waters with different densities encounter each other, they behave in some interesting ways. This activity can stand alone or in combination with a temperature-related activity. Full description.

This two-minute sound segment discusses the nutrients produced by phytoplankton, one-celled plants which live on the surface of the ocean and which form the basis of what scientists call biological productivity. A professor explains that the organic matter that comes sinking out of the surface actually sinks very far down into the water column before bacteria are actually able to break it back down ... Full description.

This data tip from Bridge, the Ocean Sciences Education Teacher Resource Center archive, includes a variety of educational sites to visit, and a data exercise on water quality in which students graph dissolved oxygen versus depth in the Gulf of Mexico dead zone where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf. The data is from the Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity Program (NECOP). Full description.

In this lesson, students will discover what causes hydrothermal vents to form as they study the development of vents along the Galapagos Rift. They will conduct investigations to observe the formation of precipitates, create a model of a developing hydrothermal vent, and generate comparisons between their model and the actual hydrothermal vents developing along the Galapagos Rift. Handouts and links ... Full description.

This article discusses how hydrothermal vents are formed and why scientists monitor minute temperature changes around them. It details the writer's personal account of preparing temperature probes to be deployed for a year-long study, an explanation of deep sea vents and their hydrothermal nature, and why they seem to spew black smoke. The thermometers prepared by the writer help monitor the currents ... Full description.

This activity combines science and art to provide an understanding about why the sea is salty. Students will obseve how salt concentration increases in water and how the salt remains after the water evaporates. They will do a salt painting using water, salt, and food coloring to observe the evaporation process. Full description.

This glossary provides short definitions of the oceanographic jargon used to describe ocean surface currents. It is designed to accompany the website "Ocean Surface Currents", a reference that provides information on surface currents in the world's oceans. Full description.

In this activity, students investigate some basic principles of solubility as they relate to underwater volcanic activity and hydrothermal vent systems. They should be able to describe the effect of temperature and pressure on solubility of gases and solid materials, describe the effect of temperature and pressure on the phase state of gases, and explain observed chemical phenomena around deep-sea ... Full description.

This section of the Windows to the Universe website provides information and images about water, including detailed information about lakes, rivers, ocean, the water cycle, and tides. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences. The objective of this project is to develop an innovative and engaging website that includes a rich array of documents, ... Full description.