Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP)
and the Little Shop of Physics
| Hands-On
Investigations from the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) and the Little Shop of Physics |
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| Materials
from 2006-2007 Teacher Workshops |
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Part of the Little Shop 2006-2007 Tour: It's Up in the Air |
| Making
a cloud in a bottle |
| These documents give instructions and information for performing hands-on atmospheric investigations in your classroom. Please download and use them, but do give credit to CMMAP and the Little Shop of Physics. |
| The activities are titled with an intriguing question. This is followed by some introduction, some theory, a parts list, and a suggestion for activities to do with your class. |
| We started with 10, but we're up to nearly 30 activities now, covering atmospheric topics as well as some basic physics concepts necessary to understand the science of the atmosphere. |
| We recently
tested all of these activities out with a group of teachers in a summer
course at Colorado State. You can check out the details of the class
here: Summer 2007 "Atmospheric Science for Educators" class. Folks in the summer class, thanks for all of your ideas and suggestions! You can check out photos of the class in action here: Summer 2007 Photos Once we get submissions from everyone, we will add a page of your projects. |
| Please e-mail us with your comments and suggestions. |
| Activity |
Description |
| Does air weigh anything? | Indeed! But most simple experiments that purport to show this don't work. This one does. |
| How does the atmosphere keep the earth warmer? | The earth cools by infrared. And the atmosphere is somewhat opaque to the infrared, so it keeps the earth warmer. A simple investigation. |
| How can
clouds help keep the air warmer? |
When water vapor condenses, it gives up heat. This is an important process of energy transfer in the atmosphere. |
| Do
cities affect the weather? |
Cold water
vapor won't necessarily condense to form water droplets... nucleation
sites are needed as well. |
| If
hot air rises, why is it cold in the mountains? |
When air
expands, it cools. And when it rises, it expands. A nice exercise on
adiabatic heating and cooling. |
| Can
it really rain fish and frogs? |
A bit about
extreme weather. A very zesty demonstration. |
| Can you "see" thermal radiation? | Sort of. You can certainly feel it, probably better than you expected! |
| What
is the "greenhouse effect"? |
The earth is
warmer than the moon, and it's because of our atmosphere. An investigation with an infrared thermometer. |
| How does the earth cool itself off? | The earth can only cool itself off by radiating energy to space. A simple exercise with a placemat and an infrared thermometer. |
| Why
does it get colder on clear nights than on cloudy nights? |
The earth
gives up energy to space by radiation. If it's cold up above, it cools
off more at night. |
| Why is
the sky purple? |
Perhaps you
thought it was blue... |
| How
can I turn a solar oven into a refrigerator? |
This is
quite surprising, and it really works! |
| Would you
get a sunburn on Mars? |
Indeed you
would. A lethal one. |
| What's
the difference between weather and climate? |
An important
question that we answer with candy. |
| What's the difference between weather and climate? | A more advanced version of the above investigation... it's an exploration of chaos. |
| Why does
the wind blow? |
It has to do
with pressure... |
| How
can freezing make something warmer? |
A
cool experiment with heat packs. |
| What's beyond the rainbow? | A series of investigations on the electromagnetic spectrum. |
| What's the difference between blue light and red light? | Photon energy! A cool investigation that glows in the dark. |
| Can energy be created or destroyed? | It can't, of course, but here's a nice quantitative investigation using solar garden lights. |
| What is energy? | A simple investigation into forms of energy using toys. |
| What is a convection cell? | When hot air rises in the atmosphere, it may produce convection cells, where air rises at one spot and falls at another. Here's a great way to show this. |
| How can gravity make something go up? | This is a recipe for a simple solar hot air balloon. The cooler denser air around it falls, so the balloon rises! |
| What causes pressure? | The classic "molecule mosh pit" class exercise. |
| Can you drink through a 30 foot straw? | No. But the reason you can't makes a nice point about air pressure. |
| Why do hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere? | It's the Coriolis force. The earth rotates, which leads to certain ficticious forces... |
| What is a model? | How can we model the climate? This activity gives a taste of what a model actually does. |