Building a Pipeline - Energy Sources

We are currently studying the 10 energy sources in class.  As we were discussing natural gas and petroleum, students built pipelines.  It was much tougher than we thought it would be, but many of them ended up being successful!

You will need (per group):

- aluminum foil - (4 foot section works well)
- 3 styrofoam cups (we used the larger size)
- 15 straws (we got bendy ones)
- roll of masking tape
- handful of craft sticks
- cup of blue water
- napkins or paper towels (for clean up)

We talked and shared some ideas as we worked.  Students figured out quickly that the starting cup had to be higher than the ending cup so they could use gravity to help the water travel into the second cup.  We colored the water blue so we could see it easier.

We measured the amount of water in the cup before we poured it in (11 cm), then measured the amount of water in the ending cup.  Our groups ranged from 2cm to 9cm of water in the ending cup!