Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ice
Hot water
ENGAGE:
Have you ever looked out the window when youre flying in an airplane
or looked up in the sky while youre riding in a car? What do you see?
Sometimes I see something that looks like big cotton balls. Do you
know what they are called? Mr. Jay Webb from WHSV is putting on a
contest. He wants schools around the county to see if they can
discover why clouds form. The winner with the best explanation will
win a trip to the weather station downtown and be on the news in the
end of May. I have gathered some supplies that may help...off we go
EXPLORE:
1.) First fill up your jar with hot water and let it sit on the table for a good
30 seconds.
2.) Pour out the water leaving only about 1 inch in the bottom.
3.) Next, place the lid upside down on the jar and fill the lid with ice.
(Enough to cover the lid but not overflow)
4.) Your teacher will come around and light a match. She will hold the
match for 5 seconds inside the jar before dropping it into the water.
5.) Cover the jar with the lid and watch closely.
6.) Record what you see happening and explain why you think this is
happening in your Science journal.
7.) Clean up your station and return to your seats.
EXPLAIN:
Ask the students to explain some characteristics they have seen during
the experiment and write them on the white board. Then ask students
why they think the cloud formed. Make a comment about how the
atmosphere needs three ingredients to make a cloud. Together as a
class come up with the three ingredients: warm/moist air, cooling, and
CNN (not the TV channel). Explain that CNN is also referred to as Cloud
Condensation Nuclei. CNN is small particles in the air on which water
vapor condenses and forms cloud droplets. So what happened in the
jar? As the war air rose, it was cooled by the ice. When the air cooled
it wanted to turn back to liquid but needed to condense on a surface
first. The match provided particles for the water vapor to condense to,
essentially forming a cloud.
ELABORATE:
EVALUATE:
We have discovered what how clouds are formed and the different
types of clouds. Next you will need to write a letter to Mr. Jay Webb
from WHSV that explains what we have learned today. Your letter must
be at least 2 paragraphs. Your letter must include the how clouds are
formed, the three types of clouds, and at least one fact about each
type. Anything else is up to you. Below you can see that I have
started the letter for you. This is to be done individually.
Sincerely,