ie-Physics
Experiment VII-3
Transport of Beach Material
in very early development
Experiment
There are many aspects of beach material transport which might be experimentally studied without much expense. What follows provides some general suggestions which may be widely modified to provide observations and perhaps measurements clarifying the movement of beach sands and gravels.
Procedure
- Obtain or construct a long tray capable of holding water. This might be a commercially produced metal or plastic container designed for cooking or other uses. But it might also be a hollowed depression in the ground lined with a plastic liner making it capable of holding water.
- Construct a beach along at least one edge. There might be some value in using a sandy material of uniform size, but there may be more value to eventually remember that many beaches have materials of a range of particle size.
- Fill the tray with water.
- Generate waves of desired magnitude and frequency. This might be done by depressing a floating large dowel periodically into the water. Consideration should also be given to the angle that the generated waves meet the beach.
- Observe motion of the beach materials. Consider ways this motion and sifting of particles might be measured or otherwise recorded.
