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Title
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Clouds in a Bottle
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Type
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Primary: Laboratory
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Operation
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Monster Storms
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Mission:
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Mission 2: The Plot Condenses
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Print Page
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42
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Subjects
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Science | Earth and space science | Weather | Clouds | Science as inquiry | Science process skills | Experimenting | Hypothesizing | Modeling | Observing | Predicting
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Grades
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5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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Keywords
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Robbie Hood, clouds, cloud formation, seed particles, experiments, models, dust, smoke, formation of clouds, how clouds form
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Audience
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Teachers | Elementary Grades | Junior High
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Created On
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5/19/2007
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Copyright
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Photo courtesy of Zachari Hauri
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From: Monster Storms Mission 2: The Plot Condenses (pp: 42) |
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Clouds in a Bottle Have you ever wondered what causes a cloud to start forming? Clouds form readily when “seed” particles such as dust or smoke, around which water vapor can condense, are present in the atmosphere. In this lab, students make models to observe how clouds form, then analyze their models. |
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Tornadic thunderstorms often produce mammatus clouds like these under their anvil. Aviators avoid these cloud formations because of the likelihood of dangerous wind shear and ball lightning. |
When Robbie Hood flies into a hurricane or tropical storm to determine its strength and potential impact, she is actually measuring the ice and water content in the storm clouds. The complex and dynamic weather phenomena within the clouds tell Robbie and her team what might happen in the next 12 to 24 hours beneath the storm. But before a monster storm develops, the atmospheric conditions must be right for water vapor to condense into storm clouds and release massive amounts of energy into the atmosphere.
Have you ever wondered what causes a cloud to start forming? Clouds form readily when “seed” particles such as dust or smoke are present in the atmosphere, around which water vapor can condense. In this lab, you will make a model to observe how clouds form, and then analyze the model.
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| Materials |
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- small plastic bottle with cap (soda or water bottle works well)
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| Lab Prep |
- Add 2 cm of hot water to the bottom of the plastic bottle and place the cap back on the bottle. Why do you think water is needed to help form a cloud? Squeeze the bottle several times. What happens? Explain.
- Remove the cap from your bottle. Your teacher will light a match, blow it out, then drop the smoking matchstick into the bottle. You should cap the bottle as soon as the match is in the water. What do you see?
- Squeeze the bottle, and then release it. What is happening to the water vapor?
- Squeeze the bottle again. What happens now? What happens after you release again?
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| Make Observations |
- Why is the smoke from the match important?
- What would happen if a lit match were dropped into the bottle? Why do you think this is true?
- What would happen if you added more water? What would happen if you removed most of the water?
- What would happen if you used warm water instead of room temperature water? What would happen if you used cold water?
- What are the similarities between the process of cloud formation and this model? What are the differences?
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Journal Question
Now that you know how clouds form, how do you think this knowledge helps Robbie understand monster storms? |
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