science tuesday :: look up!

We've looked at teeny tiny things and made them big with the help of a microscope.

So, what to do next?

Clouds.

Not as random as you might think. We've done peering down, so staring upwards is a natural opposite.

There was also a question from one child a few months ago about whether all clouds are the same. I scribbled this down in my journal (for my inspiration on journal keeping please head over to Camp Creek Blog here.) It was some thing I wanted to return to when we had the time and opportunity.

This is about as schooly as we get, and strangely enough, for science they like the order and method.

We all sat down, looked through some relevant books I'd picked out (the best was without a doubt 100 facts on weather - a charity shop bargain.) Pages 16-19 to be precise. We watched the hurricanes forming via NASA TV. Awesome.

I had one of those "aha" moments. We were all sitting round the table, eating lunch and watching a live satellite feed from the International Space Station. We also watched this video on Teacher tube. Six times over.

Up until this time, I felt Mb had coped well. His six year old self was starting to lose interest, so we brought in a craft element that all were able to join in with. We made a sky:

Labelling all the clouds we'd made, of course:


And you are allowed to do all of this dressed as Wolverine with pen on your face (the pen was a bit of living art from Shrek.) Dressing up clothes are our uniform.


Finally, we got really brave and made a cloud. we started off with WikiHow's suggestion of a match but honestly, this was just not happening. So, this is how we did it:

How to make a cloud in a bottle
1. Get a bottle, some matches or a lighter, some tissue and some water.
2. Fill the bottle (we used a 2 litre Tizer bottle) about 1/3 full of water - and it makes it easier if the water is warm.
3. make a tube out of the tissue - if you're using loo roll then about four sheets rolled up and squished.
4. Put the tissue in the bottle top so it kind of hangs out looking like a wick.
5. Light the tissue. Don't light it using three matches like we did, it's just silly and you will probably end up with a burnt finger, like me.
6. Allow the tissue to burn for about 5 seconds, then push it into the bottle.
7. Put the lid on the bottle - make sure it is tight.
8. Squeeze the bottle hard on the sides, count to three, then release. Do this twice...you should see the cloud forming.


9. When you've all had a shot at making clouds, open the bottle and watch your cloud run free.
The science bit: (from WikiHow)

"Squeezing the sides of the bottle forces the particles to squeeze together or compress. Letting the pressure go lets the air expand, and by doing that, the temperature of the air becomes colder. This cooling procedure lets the particles stick together more easily making tiny droplets around the smoke molecules. Most water droplets are created when water vapor condenses around a condensation nucleus, a tiny particle of smoke, dust, ash, or salt. Clouds in the sky come together while the unseen water vapor in the air condenses into visible water droplets or ice crystals."

So now you know.

Disclaimer bit: If you get burnt, don't come crying to me. I warned you about the matches, and you know what they say:

"Matches, matches never touch, they can hurt you very much."

Or play it safe, and watch Steve Spangler do his (fire free) stuff here.

(edited to add: I've linked this to Childhood 101::We Play. Yes, it's educational, but here play + education = real learning