Earth Shelters

You will need:

• Two shoe boxes
• Two maximum and minimum thermometers (ask your teacher or parent if you are not sure where to obtain them). A maximum and minimum thermometer records the highest and lowest temperatures during a given period. Its indicators can be reset using a small magnet.

What to do:

Do this experiment in summer when it is warm outside and the ground is dry.

Reset the thermometers using the magnet and place one thermometer in each of the shoe boxes. Early in the morning, put one of the boxes in a hole in the ground and cover it with about 6" of earth. Put the other box on top of the ground a few feet away from the buried box. The next morning, open both boxes and make a note of the highest and lowest temperatures recorded by the thermometers. What are your results? Can you explain them?


Taking it further:

Repeat the experiment at different times of the year. Try placing the buried box at a variety of depths. Does this affect the range of temperatures you record? Are the results different if you bury the box in sand instead of soil?