Modeling Mantle Convection Currents

In class we did a lab and this lab is call Modeling Mantle Convection Currents. What we had to do in the lab was take hot water and put it in a small glass and then but it in a bucket of cold water there is food coloring in the hot water then you poke holes to see what happens. We also had to add small little paper holes. My hypothesis was that the food coloring would just spread around and then what actually did happen was the that the food coloring spread out and it sort of attached to the paper holes and acted like tectonic plates!