The Crooked, Crazy Weather Project

Brainstorming background knowledge about clouds began our discussion on clouds.  The stuadents' background knowledge was solid and laid the groundwork for more detailed information.  Students discovered that clouds were water.  Review of evaporation, condensation and precipitation took place.  Added information was given on types of clouds and what type of weather to expect from them.  The internet was then used to show examples of the different types of clouds and the types of storms they could bring.  The ‘Make A Cloud' experiment was used to emphasize that clouds are made from water.

Notes taken from : http://www.wxdude.com/basics.html

Student Notes:
Each type of cloud forms in a different way, and each brings its own kind of weather. 

Cool Condensation

Clouds are water. Water as a gas is called water vapor.  Clouds form when water vapor turns back into liquid water droplets.  That is called condensation.  It happens in one of two ways: when the air cools enough, or when enough water vapor is added to the air. The droplets of water in a cloud are so small that it takes about one million of them to form a single raindrop.

Meteorologists name clouds by how high in the sky they form and by their appearance. Cumulus clouds are low individual billowy globs that are low form on sunny days from pockets of rising air. Cumulus clouds usually signal fair weather. A cumulonimbus cloud is tall, deep and dark and can bring lightning, heavy rain and even severe weather such as hail, damaging winds or tornadoes. Stratus clouds are layered and cover most of the sky. If you see them in broken or puffy layers, they are stratocumulus clouds.  If you see them in thin high layers that turn the sky solid white, they're cirrostratus clouds. When stratus clouds are very thick, they become dark nimbostratus clouds, which can produce rain, drizzle or snow. Cirrus clouds are high and thin and made entirely of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds are sometimes an early signal that thickening clouds could bring light rain or snow within one or two days. 

Fog

Fog is a cloud at ground level.  It can form on clear nights when there is a lot of moisture in the air.

Click below to view the video of this lesson.

Resources:
Weather Dude
Dan's Wild Weather
The Weather Network


Videos:

http://stormscenes.com/clouds.shtml

Activity:  Make a Cloud

Try this experiment with a grownup to make a cloud in a bottle.  Get an empty two-liter plastic soda bottle and a match.  Put about an inch of water into the bottle, have a grownup light the match, hold it inside the bottle for a few seconds, then drop it inside.  Quickly put the cap on and shake the bottle to fill the air inside with moisture.   Give the bottle a squeeze.  The increased air pressure will warm the air inside.  Then release the bottle and allow the lower air pressure in the bottle to cool the air inside.  As the air cools, the water vapor inside the bottle should quickly condense on the smoke particles, forming a little cloud.  It really works!

 

 

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