Tips for Making a Barometer

Series Summary

A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure, and can measure this pressure by using water, air, or mercury. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather, and numerous measurements of air pressure are used within weather analysis to help find surface troughs, high pressure systems, and frontal boundaries. A barometer is commonly used for weather predictions, as high air pressure in a region usually indicates fair weather, while low pressure indicates that storms are more likely. When used in combination with wind observations, reasonably accurate short-term forecasts can be made.

While barometers may sound like complex devices, they can be replicated through a rather simple process. In this free video series, an expert will teach you how to make a barometer using only a jar, balloon, and straw. What's more, he'll even show you how to decorate it! This poor man's barometer may be crude, but it's effective as well. You'll learn what supplies you need, how to seal the barometer with a balloon, and how to use a straw to replicate the needle of a traditional barometer. With these simple video instructions, you'll be able to predict the weather without ever having to read the paper or watch TV!

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Gary for Expert Village. Today we're going to make a really fun science project. We're going to make a barometer and especially during the winter months is a really fun kind of activity because you can really predict all different types of weather. The way it works is we're going to take a glass jar and we're going to seal it air tight and we're going to put around the top a elastic balloon. A regular balloon like a party balloon and we're going to seal it shut around the sides then we're going to make the measurements on our poster board according to the, our calculations and our measurements of the weather and the surroundings around us. So it's a really fun science project that's also a fun arts and crafts project and you can really learn a lot because we're always affected by the weather and we always grow up seeing all these big fancy weather maps with a bunch of H's and L's for the highs and the lows and now we can actually understand what those things mean so get ready to do a really fun project."