Science Projects on How Clouds Are Formed

Clouds containt water vapor and dust particles.

Clouds are a part of our every day life and scenery but many students may not understand exactly what they are or how they form. A project on cloud formation will help students understand the clouds and the weather patterns and conditions associated with them.

Bottled Cloud

Use a 2-liter bottle to demonstrate how clouds are formed. Fill the bottom of the soda bottle with warm water and swirl the water. Place the rubber stopper attached to the foot pump in the bottle. Hold the stopper in the bottle firmly and pump the foot pump five times. The pressure created will try to push out the stopper, which is why you hold it securely. Remove the stopper and view the slight cloud that appears within the bottle. Repeat the experiment but apply 10 pumps instead of five. View the results then try again with 15 pumps and finally 20. The more pressure is applied to the stopper, the harder it is to hold it in. Likewise, the greater the amount of pumps, the more visible the cloud will be. For safety, wear eye protection while performing this experiment.

Cloud in a Jar

Pour enough warm water into a jar, such as a pickle jar, so that it covers the bottom of the jar. Wrap the opening of a latex glove around the lip of the jar so that the fingers of the glove are hanging inside the jar and the top of the glove forms a seal around the opening of the jar. Gently insert your hand into the glove and pull the glove inside out without disrupting the seal. Remove the glove from the jar. Practicing the steps regarding the application of the glove to the jar will enable you to perform the process quickly and correctly in the actual experiment. Once you are comfortable with that process, light a match and drop the lit match into the jar. Immediately repeat the glove steps. The sealing of the jar with the glove will extinguish the match but the smoke will remain. As you pull the fingers inside out, a cloud will form inside the jar from the smoke left over from the match.

Story Board

Create a story board sequence or comic strip that explains in a fun and vibrant way the cloud-forming process. The elements that form clouds, such as water vapor, warm air, cool air, dust and droplets, can even be drawn as characters with faces and word bubbles to make the sequence more entertaining. Each block of the sequence should explain a step in the cloud-forming process. The project will illustrate the student's knowledge of cloud formation and break it down into simple terms for others to understand as well.

Act It Out

Put on a short play or skit that explains how clouds are formed. Use helium-filled balloons as some of the elements, such as a red balloon for warm air, a blue balloon for cool air a silver balloon for water droplets and a brown balloon for dust particles. The student can narrate the scene as the balloons come into contact with each other. For example, the blue and red balloons can bump into each other, illustrating how a cold front meets a warm front and triggers cloud formation.

References

• Weather Wiz Kids: Weather Clouds
• Science Project Ideas for Kids: Cloud Formation
• Steve Spangler Science: Cloud in a Bottle
• Science Buddies: How do Clouds Form