Can You Make Rain?
Can you make rain in your own home?
This is a rain making experiment that simulates how rain forms.
A simulation is an imitation.
This experiment mimics the rain making process in nature, but it’s not the real process.
We can then closely study it.
Unlike other rain making experiment, this one is super simple.
No boiling water or ice is needed.
But a little bit of patience is required.
Make Your Own Rain - Water Cycle In A Bottle Science Experiment
Let's make rain!
Materials
- a clear bottle
- water
- patience
Tools
- adult supervision
Instructions
- Fill the bottle with water to about 1 inch high.
- Place the bottle by a window that can receive direct sunlight.
- Wait (while you do something else).
- After several hours, drops of water can be seen on the upper part of the bottle.
Why
In nature, there is no boiling water in the ocean or a lake to generate steam. Rain forms due to evaporation of surface water. Evaporation takes place continuously despite not being visible.
This experiment is also a simulation like the one mentioned earlier.
In nature, the clouds in the upper atmosphere absorb the sunlight and radiate back to the surface of the Earth to expedite evaporation. In the experiment, the bottle simulates the clouds because greenhouse effect allows the interior of the bottle to become warmer than the external ambient temperature under sunlight.
In nature, when the water vapor in the air rises and reaches the upper atmosphere, it condenses into fine water droplets to form clouds. In the experiment, the water vapor condenses into droplets on the upper part of the bottle.
In nature, when the cloud becomes too heavy, the water falls and becomes rain. In the experiment, when the water droplets become too big and too heavy, they fall down to simulate raining.
