Extensional sand-box model of normal faults, showing a graben and some half-graben.

Fun and learning with physical models

Materials

• black and white sand purchased from Hobby Lobby
• white sand purchased from PetSmart, sold for aquaria and lizard enclosures. This is a nice, well sorted, fine- to medium-grained quartz sand with rounded quartz grains.
• dots candy, bought at Walmart or a supermarket
• 1-inch thick, higher density foam purchased from Jo-Ann Fabrics or an upholstery supply store
• rulers and foam tape purchased from Hobby Lobby, Michael's, WalMart, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, et cetera.
• dry sheetrock joint compound (white powder) purchased at a home-improvement store
• spray adhesive purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, Michael's or a home-improvement store
• swimsuit liner fabric purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics
• 1-inch thick white foam, standard density, purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics or Hobby Lobby or Michael's

Featured presentations

Inexpensive physical model of elastic deformation around a strike-slip fault -- Abbuhl and Cronin (2014)
This model has its own web resources at https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/ElastDef-SSFault.html

Uniaxial deformation of a 2D layer -- Arellano and Cronin (2014)
This model has its own web resources at https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Uniax2D_def.html

Other models

• 1-dimensional strain, elongation and stretch illustrated with a ruler and a rubber band. GO
• Uniaxial extension model using powder on elastic cloth. GO
• Strike-slip fault model. GO
• Volcano model using swimsuit liner material. GO
• Volcano model using foam and cardboard. GO

Short videos

• Mode I extension crack in foam. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_I_crack.mov
  Same model, m4v version. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_I_crack.m4v
• Mode II shear crack in foam. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_II_crack.mov
  Same model, m4v version. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_II_crack.m4v
• Mode III shear (tear) crack in foam. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_III_crack.mov
  Same model, m4v version. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/Mode_III_crack.m4v
• Foam model of fault slip producing an earthquake P-wave. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/FoamEQmodel.mov
  Same model, m4v version. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/FoamEQmodel.m4v
• Foam model of stick-slip behavior. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/StickSlipModel.mov
  Same model, m4v version. GO
  https://croninprojects.org/Vince/PhysModel/StickSlipModel.m4v

This part of the site is under construction. It should have content by early January of 2015, so please check-back later. Thanks for your patience.

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All of the original content of this website is © 2014 by Vincent S. Cronin