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A PROJECT:Make fake amber stone with an insect preserved inside it
Trapped in amber
The most perfect fossils of all form when animals get trapped in pine resin- the sticky gum that oozes from wounded trees. Pine resin rorms an airtight seal that preserves an animal´s body. Over thousands of years, the resin turns into a hard golden material called amber. With modeling resin, you can make an „amber“ fossin of an insect overnight.
Trapped isect in real amber
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- Dead insects
- Plasticine or modeling clay
- Pebble
- Petroleum jelly
- Protective gloves
- Clear modeling resin (available from art shops)
- Yellow food colouring or turmeric
- Coctail stick www.letstonesspeak.wikispaces.com
Modelling resin must be handled with great care and not ingested. Ask an adult to mix the resin.
Process:
1. Collect a few dead insect and choose the most intact specimen. Good places to look for dead insects are cobwebs and indoor windowsills.
2. Create a pebble-shaped mould with Plasticine or modeling clay. Do this by pushing a smooth pebble into the clay, pulling it out, and then widening the bottom of the inner surface of the cavity smooth. Line the inside of the mould with a little petroleum jelly.
3. Get an adult to mix the modeling resin, following the manufacturer´s instructions carefully, and wearing protective gloves. Usually there are two parts to the mixture – the resin and a hardener – which need to be stirred.
4. To colour the resin yellow, add a tiny drop of yellow food colouring, or a very tiny pinch of turmeric. Turmeric clear „amber“
HANDY TIP
If the insect is fragile, half-fill the mould with resin, put in the insect, then fill to the top
5. Pour the resin into the mould, taking care not to overfill it. Drop the insect on the surface and push it down very gently into the resin with a cocktail stick.
6. After 24 hours (or when the manufacturer´s instructions say that the resin is solid), remove the amber stone from the mould and wash it with soapy water. www.letstonesspeak.wikispaces.com
Amber jewellery
You can turn your amber fossil into a necklace or keyring. Ask an adult to drill a small hole through the fossil so that you can attach a chain to it.
BRINGING BACK THE DINOSAURS
In the film Jurassic Park, a scientist extracts dinosaur DNA from a mosquito in amber and brings dinosaurs back to life. This could never happen in reality because DNA disintegrates in fossils. Other body parts, however, are superbly preserved in amber. www.letstonesspeak.wikispaces.com
Insects 100 million years old look asi f they died only yesterday, and their tiny mouthparts and wings appear intact under a microscope. Even small lizards and frogs have been preserved in amber. Thanks to amber fossils, scientists know that bees, ants, flies, and all the other main types of insect were present on Eath 100 milion years ago.