Bill Nye, the Science Guy
Plate Tectonics
00:00 - 02:00
Bill Nye explains plate tectonics and the origination of its theory. The areas in which the tectonics spread apart is where volcanoes form. Conversely, the areas in which the tectonics come together is where mountains form.
Sign up to access lesson features such as sample questions, standards alignment, and discussion tools to check for understanding.
Comments
Please sign in to write a comment.
Video Transcript
0:00
(screen whooshing)
0:01
Hello, today on "consider the Following."
0:04
I'd like you to,
0:06
well, consider the following.
0:10
You and I are sitting on the Earth's crust
0:13
and it seems pretty solid, doesn't it?
0:15
(fist thudding)
0:16
But now, scientists believe
0:17
that the Earth's crust is actually made of plates,
0:21
not cheap plastic picnic plates like this,
0:24
(animal growling)
0:26
but tectonic plates.
0:28
And tectonic is from the Latin word for build.
0:31
So the Earth's crust is built of plates.
0:34
Plate tectonics.
0:36
And the plates are floating on the earth's mantle,
0:39
which you know is molten metal.
0:41
And it's kind of like corn syrup.
0:45
In fact, scientists actually use corn syrup like this
0:48
to do studies of what's underneath the earth's crust.
0:51
Scientists first caught onto the idea
0:53
of tectonic plates when they realized how well
0:56
South America seems to fit in next to Africa.
1:00
Not that bad.
1:02
So take a look here.
1:03
Here we have the camp stove of science,
1:07
and in it we have models of tectonic plates.
1:11
See, right now, they're all together,
1:13
and scientists believe that at one time,
1:16
all the plates of the earth's crust
1:18
were one piece called Pangea.
1:21
And Pangea, well, that means whole earth.
1:24
See? Not that bad.
1:25
Let's say this is the Earth's crust.
1:27
You see where the plates,
1:29
the tectonic plates are spreading apart,
1:32
that's where we get volcanoes,
1:36
and where the plates are coming together
1:39
that's where we get mountains.
1:42
Now, you know, the plates are still moving even today.
1:45
In fact, North America is moving away from Europe
1:48
about this much every year, about two centimeters,
1:51
about an inch every year.
1:53
Well, thanks for joining us on "Consider the Following."
1:58
(drum music)
