The Cloud Cookbook
or
How Clouds Affect Weather
| Ingredients: | Clouds Precipitation Pressure Wind Temperature |
Directions: | Mix in different proportions to produce the weather of your choice. |
|---|
Before we actually begin cooking up a storm, we need to know something about our "ingredients", how to measure them, and how to mix them together.
In these experiments you will be simulating real weather processes in your classroom using some of the same constituents ("ingredients") as in the natural world. Your experiments will model the real world in much the same way that atmospheric scientists do.
Also, it's good to know a little more about what a cloud is before starting the lab. A cloud is not made up of water vapor. You can't see water vapor, but you can see clouds. A cloud is made up of ice or liquid water that has formed from the water vapor that's always a part of the air you breathe. There are a lot of different types of clouds, some will rain on you, some will snow on you, some you may not even notice on a hot summer day. Take a few minutes and look at the wide variety of of clouds, some of which you should recognize, and how they are formed.
Have you ever been on a plane and flown through a cloud? What did it look like from the ground? Did it look different when you flew through it? Think about sometime when it was very foggy outside. Did you know you were inside a cloud without ever leaving the ground?
IT'S LAB TIME!
The first 3 experiments you are going to do will help you to discover how clouds are formed and of what they are made.
Experiment #2: Creating a Cloud
Experiment #3: The Great Disappearing Cloud Trick
After you have completed each experiment, answer the questions at the bottom of the lab page and turn in your work.
Today you will begin keeping a Weather Journal on your official Weather Watch Journal Sheet. You will start by recording your cloud observations three times daily:
9:00 am (morning)
1:00 pm (afternoon)
7:00 pm (evening)
Record your observations by drawing and describing the clouds that you see.
The next 2 Experiments will help you discover how masses of cold and warm air come together to make a storm.
Experiment #4: Just a Bag of Hot Air
After you have completed each experiment, answer the questions at the bottom of the page and turn in your work.
When you have completed all 5 experiments you are ready to apply for membership in the ...... Northwest Weather Watchers
To apply for membership fill out your Northwest Weather Watcher Application Form.