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Weather Experiments and Demonstrations - Part 2
If you have any questions about the activities, or would like to make suggestions about them, please contact the Society’s Head of Education on education@rmets.orgMet Ambassador Resources
See Part 1 >>
Atmospheric Pressure
See how it works
Supercooled Water
A fascinating experiment
The Effect of Albedo
How reflectivity effects temperature.
The Dew Point
Measure the dew point.
The Bernouilli Effect
A simple experiment.
Black Clouds
Why do clouds look black from underneath?
Clouds in a Bottle
How clouds form from condensation
Cartesian Diver
Make a floating "diver"
Weather System
Make your own weather system
Sparkly Snow Flake
A snow flake for you to make
Hot Air Rises
Experiment with jamjars and string
DIY Hygrometer
Work out how humid the air is
Boiling Water and Ice
Experiment with the air pressure and boiling water
How Heavy is Air?
An experiment with air and plungers.
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DIY Raingauge
Wind bag
Tornado Tube
Dipping Bird
Dipping Bird 2
Make a Galileo Thermometer (thermometer 2)
Make a Galileo Thermometer
DIY Barometer
Make a Rainbow
More Atmospheric Pressure Experiments
- 1. Get a plastic 1.5ltr lemonade bottle and drink the contents.
Then immerse it up to the neck in hot water. Don’t let water get inside.
Wait for a couple of minutes while the air inside warms up – this makes
some of the air leave the bottle (a partial vacuum). Quickly replace the
top and remove from the hot water. Soon the bottle will start to buckle
as the air inside cools down and contracts, allowing the outside pressure
to act on it. This works with plastic milk bottles too.
- 2. Use any plastic bottle and a ‘wine saver’ device (they extract the air from opened wine bottles to stop the rest spoiling). Pump out the air and watch the bottle collapse as flat as a pancake!
- Put a ruler on the table, leaving a bit of it sticking
out over the edge. Put a sheet of paper over the ruler,
but not over the bit that’s sticking out. Now give a smart hit to the end
of the ruler. You should find that it’s quite difficult to make the ruler
move. Why? It’s because that sheet of paper has many kilos of air on it,
so when you hit that ‘lever’ you’re trying to move much more than a sheet
of paper!
- 3. Put a clean drinking straw in a clear cup of water. Hold a second clean
straw next to the first, but with the end outside the cup, and try sucking
through both straws at once. Can you suck water up? It is impossible to
drink if one of the straws is outside the glass. In order for water to
be forced into your mouse, the pressure outside (atmospheric pressure)
needs to be greater than the pressure inside your mouth (a partial vacuum),
but, with two straws, you suck air up as well and cannot maintain low pressure
in your mouth. Now make a small hole with a pin in one of the straws, about
3cm from the top. Can you drink through it? No matter how hard you suck,
a straw won't work if air can get into your mouth and stop you from maintaining
low pressure there.
- 4. Place a well-stretched balloon inside a 1 litre clear plastic bottle and spread its neck over the top of the bottle. Do the same with another bottle and balloon, but, this time, put a small hole in the side of the bottle, near its base. Can you blow up the balloons inside the bottles? It should only be possible with the holey bottle. Quickly put your thumb over the hole when the balloon is inflated, and it should stay inflated when you stop blowing into it. It should also be possible to inflate the balloon by sucking air through the hole in the bottle! Think about where the pressure is the same as, greater or less than atmospheric pressure.