How to Make a Mini Water Cycle Using a 2 Liter Bottle
The water cycle can be a difficult subject to understand. Since it usually happens on a large scale, cutting it down to a scale students can see helps them understand the concepts that can be difficult to grasp. This project creates a water cycle they can set on a window sill and watch daily. Not only is it smaller than the Earth's water cycle, it happens more often and more quickly.
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Things You'll Need
- 2-liter clear or opaque plastic bottle
- Utility knife, razor blade or sharp scissors
- Clear packing tape
- Soil
- Seeds
- Water
Instructions
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Creating a Water Cycle
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1
Use a cutting edge to cut all the way around the bottle about 4 inches from the top. You should have two pieces, the cup-shaped bottom and the cone-shaped top with the lid.
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2
Fill the bottom with about 3 to 4 inches of soil. Plant a few seeds that will grow small plants, such as dwarf marigolds.
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3
Water the seeds so they are damp, but not wet.
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4
Fit the top inside the bottom, so the bottle looks like it did originally, but a half-inch shorter. Tape it together with packing tape. If you can't get it to fit, use packing tape to tape the top and bottom together.
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5
Put the bottle in a sunny window, but make sure it doesn't get too hot. Lots of indirect light and heat is good. Keep the lid on. This should create an environment that encourages precipitation, condensation and evaporation, illustrating the parts of the water cycle. You should not need to add water. You can make two terrariums and leave the top off one to show what happens when the water cycle is out of balance.
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