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There are lots of fun
weather experiments that you can do in the home or in the classroom.
Here are some ideas. Make sure you always have an adult with
you when trying out these experiments.
Make a tornado in a jar
What you will need:
- A clear jam jar or similar see-through container
with a screw-on lid
- Washing-up liquid
- Food colouring
Fill up the container with water then add a
few drops of the washing-up liquid and a few drops of the food
colouring. Tightly screw on the lid.
Swirl the container around in a circle several
times and then stop. Inside you should see what looks like a
tornado. It will slowly fade as it reaches the top of the container.
Tornadoes in the real world form in a similar
way. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air, often
touching the ground, and is created by a special type of rotating
thunderstorm called a supercell.
Make a cloud in a glass
What you will need:
- A clear glass or similar see-through container
- Warm water
- Ice
- Metal dish
Place the ice into the metal dish and pour
a small amount of warm water into the bottom of the glass. Once
the dish is really cold, place it on top of the glass. Watch
the inside closely. You should see a 'cloud' form near the top
of the glass.
This is the way clouds form in the real
world. Warm, moist air like that in your glass, is cooled
(your ice). When it is cooled it condenses into tiny water
droplets, which appear as clouds.
Weather fronts
What you will need:
- A large, clear tank
- Warm and cold water
- Two plastic cups
- Small stones
Fill the tank with normal water and leave
this for a few hours to come to room temperature.
Place a few small pebbles in each of the two
cups to act as weights. In one of the cups place some hot water
and a few drops of red food colouring. Fill the other cup with
very cold water and add some blue food colouring. Place the
two cups into the water at the same time, one at either end
of the tank - the pebbles should hold the cups at the bottom.
Carefully watch how the two different coloured waters move.
You should see that the warmer red water should raise to the
top, and the cooler blue water should sink to the bottom.
Much of our weather is caused by the interactions
of different air masses. Warm air (shown by your warm red
water) is less dense than cold air (cold blue water), so
warm air rises and warm air exerts less pressure than cold
air. As air cools, it becomes denser, so it sinks and also
exerts greater pressure.
Water
cycle in a bag
What you will need:
- A large bowl
- A small yogurt pot or plastic cup
- Clingfilm
- Water
- Small weight
- Sunny window sill
Take the large bowl and fill it with several
centimetres of water. Place your small pot in the centre of
the bowl of water, making sure not to get any water inside it.
Cover the large bowl with clingfilm and fasten this down securely
to the side of the bowl. Put a weight on top of the clingfilm,
over the centre of the small pot to push the clingfilm down
into it slightly. Place your experiment on a warm sunny window
sill and leave for a few days.
You should find that the heat of the sun evaporates
the water, which rises, condenses on the cool plastic, and falls
into the small container. This is a small version of what happens
in the real water cycle.
Measuring
a puddle
What you will need
- A puddle
- A piece of chalk
Choose a day then there has been rain overnight
and the rest of the day is expected to be dry, warm and
sunny.
Choose a puddle and first thing in the
morning use a piece of chalk to draw around the puddle.
A few hours later go back and draw around your puddle again.
Repeat this several times during the day.
You should find that the puddle slowly shrinks
during the day as the water evaporates.
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