Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

Lab Brief #5

🎯 Your mission

Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

A renewable resource is replaced as fast as we use it — timber if forests are replanted, wind and sunlight always. Coal, oil, gas and metal ores are not; once a deposit is worked out, it is gone on any human timescale.

Key words

renewable resource
A resource replaced as fast as it is used.
ore
Rock containing enough of a metal to be worth extracting.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

resource cards
notebook

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "renewable resource" and "ore" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Sort twelve resources into renewable and nonrenewable, then pick three nonrenewable ones and find what each is used for and what could replace it.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Which of these is nonrenewable?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Timber counts as renewable only if forests are:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Mining Has Costs Above Ground All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

⛏️Share card

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Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

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