Here is another one of the many kids science experiments you can have fun with. Have your kids every wondered how clouds form? Well, they form when water vapor is cooled just enough to form little bitty water droplets. This is what takes place when wet air rises in to the atmosphere, cools, and then water droplets form into a cloud.
Now you can demonstrate what happens in what is another of my favorite kids science experiments. You will need to gather this for the science fair project:.
1-liter clear plastic bottle with cap
Water
Matches
Place just enough warm water in the bottle to cover the bottom. Your goal is to get some smoke into the bottle. Light a match and let it burn on for a few seconds. Blow it out and immediately place the head of it inside. Let all the smoke from the match fill the bottle. After a few seconds, it will seem to disappear, but the invisible particles are still floating around inside. All of this will kind of happen pretty quickly. Screw the cap on being careful not to let too much smoke out.
Squeeze the sides really hard 6 or 7 times. Squeeze it again, hold it for a few seconds and then quickly release. The second you let go, you should see the formation of a little fog in it. This is the cloud!
You may be wondering to yourself how does this work? Well, even though we don't see them, water molecules are in the air all around us it's called water vapor. When the molecules are jumping around in the atmosphere, they don't normally cling to each other.
Pressing the sides forces the molecules to squeeze together or compress. Taking away the pressure allows the air to expand, and when this happens, the temperature of the air becomes cooler. This cooling process allows the molecules to stick together more easily forming tiny droplets and clouds are nothing more than this!
Pressing the sides forces the molecules to squeeze together or compress. Taking away the pressure allows the air to expand, and when this happens, the temperature of the air becomes cooler. This cooling process allows the molecules to stick together more easily forming tiny droplets and clouds are nothing more than this!
The smoke that is inside the bottle also helps this process. Water particles will stick together much more easily if there are some solid particles in the air to act as a nucleus. I hope you enjoyed this and please take a look at my other kids science experiments.
