Instead he is watching a model of tectonic evolution in a tub of molten wax. Remarkably,these phenomena appear to be similar to the Earth. Bodenschatz, an associate professor of physics, presented the latest results from his wax modeling at the centennial meeting of the American Physical Society in Atlanta. His experiments examine phenomena similar to ocean-floor spreading. His experimental apparatus is filled with molten wax.
Cold air is blown over the wax surface so that a solid layer is formed.
The solid wax layer represents the Earth's cold and hard lithosphere, and the molten wax below, the Earth's plastic upper mantle. The solid layer ofwax is divided, and the two halves are pulled apart with constant velocity. At intermediate rates of velocity, tiny chunks of solid wax appear at the rift and begin rolling up, something like a rolling snowball gathering snow. Each chunk of wax grows with constant velocity in the direction of the rift, slowing down the rotation rate and resulting in a spiral shape. Microplates might be created in a similar fashion in the ocean floor.