1. Get out your atlas Can you find out where the Gulf of Mexico is?
Do now task
Get out your atlas
Can you find out where the Gulf of Mexico is?

2. Benjamin Franklin and the Gulf Stream
L/O: To investigate the mystery of the Gulf Stream
Do Now Task
What century do you think this man lived in?

3. The Mystery What was going on?
Mail sent from England to the American colonies was taking a long time to arrive—two months on average. And yet it only took 6 weeks (two weeks less) for letters to arrive from America to Europe.
How long did a ship take to get from England to America?
How long did a ship take to get from America to England ?
It didn’t seem to matter whether the mail ships sailing from England experienced good weather or bad, whether the wind was in their sails or not—something still held them back.
What was causing the delays?

4. Task 1
From Franklin’s journal entries, what were his findings about?
Franklins diary
The water?
__________________________________________
2. The winds?
3. The plants found in the water?

5. Benjamin Franklin - Postmaster General In 1768, Benjamin Franklin was the postmaster general for the American colonies. He was summoned to travel to London were he was questioned by British authorities. They wanted to know why letters from Europe to America took weeks longer to arrive than the letters from America to Europe. Franklin did not have an answer, but started an investigation. Franklin recalled that on his return trip from London, in 1726, after several weeks at sea, the color of the water began to change. There were "hot damp winds," he noted in his journal, along with "an abundance of grass" and other seaweed visible in the water. To Franklin, the warmer air and warmer water suggested that the ship must be very near the coast, but the ship’s captain scoffed at that idea. And, indeed, after six days, the water regained its former darker color, and the hot wind and abundant seaweed disappeared. The ship was nowhere near the coast.

6. Task 1
From Franklin’s journal entries, what were the findings about:
the water?
the winds?
the plants found in the water?
Task 2
Suggest a theory to explain what you think was going on

7. Watch this clip to find out what the Gulf Stream is.
The Mystery is Solved!
Watch this clip to find out what the Gulf Stream is.

8. Tasks:
Sketch a map like the one to the right to show where the gulf stream is
Explain what the gulf stream is in your own words.
Explain how the Gulf Stream can be used to help humans (think trade, communications etc). Try to add examples to make yourself clear.