The Twister Experiment

I am currently on vacation mode, so I am not keeping up with my planned schedule.  It’s the midterm break for Mavi and I don’t want to put too much “home” school activities for him as well. So we’re taking each day slowly, whip any activity I can think of if I feel it or if Mavi asks for it.  But other than that, we spend our time outdoors, doing a Harry Potter marathon and catch up on my workout as well.

As I mentioned, we’re doing random activities as of the moment.  And that’s what we did last week.  We have a few empty water bottles and we made use of it by making a shape of a tornado!

 

Objective:  This is to demonstrate the shape of a tornado.

Materials: 

• 2 two-litres of water bottle empty
• water
• duct tape

Procedure:

Fill one bottle with half full water.  Place the second bottle upside down on top of the half filled bottled water.  Secure them with a duct tape.  Turn the bottle upside down so that the bottle with water is on top (make sure to  stand the bottle on the table.  Hold the lower bottle with one hand and using the other hand, quickly move the upper  bottle in a circular motion counter-clockwise.  Stand the bottles upright with the empty bottle remaining on top.

The picture below is quite blurry, but I just want to you see the wonder on my son’s face. Precious!

Results:  The water in the upper bottle swirls in the counterclockwise direction and this forms a shape that looks like a funnel as the water pours into the other bottle.  This funnel shaped formation is the same shape as the vortex formed by a tornado.

Vocabulary:

• A vortex a spinning flow of fluid.
• A tornado is a violently rotating funnel of air that touches the ground.

Mavi enjoyed this activity!  We kept the water bottles for days and he keeps on doing those “shaky” things to make the tornado. 

For best result, it is recommended to use a washer in between the bottle’s mouth piece.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
Share It Saturday
The Natural Homeschool