- Emily Stoll
- Saturday, July 25, 2020
During this science experiment, WLTX Meteorologist Danielle Miller is focusing on clouds and parts of the water cycle.
Weather Lesson
Have you had a chance to look outside yet today? Something is happening, and you may not even realize it. Water evaporates. It condenses onto pieces of pollution or pieces of dusts - whatever is floating around. The more water droplets that get together, the better you can see a cloud in the sky. It happens every day in our atmosphere.
There is a way for you to make a cloud right in your kitchen, and it requires things that you probably have right at home.
Materials
- some ice cubes
- matches
- a glass jar with a lid (like a pickle jar)
- hot water, which can be stored in a thermos
Instructions
*If you are going to do this experiment, please have a parent or adult with you.
- First, pour hot water into your jar, filling it about a quarter of the way full. You can get this hot water from your sink at home.
- Next, have a parent or adult take the match and light it near the jar. They're going to want to hold the match over the jar, and then blow it out eventually. Be careful with your fingers.
- Hold the match inside the jar a couple of seconds and then drop it in the water.
- Quickly put the lid on top of the jar and place an ice cube on top of the lid. Soon, you'll start to see the water from the bottom of the jar evaporate into a gas or into water vapor and condense onto the smoke and, becoming water droplets - also known as a cloud.
Evaluation
You'll continue to see this cloud form as more water evaporates and condenses. All of those water droplets are getting together.
Now, if you lift the lid off your jar, you'll be able to see your cloud escape and float into whatever room of the house that you're in.
By the way, if you don't have any matches available, you can use some hair spray. Spray it just like you dropped the match into the jar, and it will do the exact same thing.
Danielle Miller is a meteorologist at WLTX-TV in Columbia, SC who provides regular weekend forecasts and digital content during the week. Learn more about Miller and how she got interested in weather by clicking here.