Water Cycle Experiment

This week, we concluded our Water Cycle unit with a water cycle experiment. We actually made it rain in our classroom! While the students were expecting thunder rolling in and water falling from the sky, we did keep it contained to one tank. We observed as a bowl of water (a puddle) was heated by a light bulb (the sun), and turned to water vapor. We then had ice on the top of the tank, so that as the water vapor rose, it was cooled and began sticking together to form a cloud. Finally, as the water droplets became too heavy to stick to the top of the tank, it began raining on our green paper plate (the grass). The students were so excited to be able to witness the water cycle actually taking place in our classroom, even if we didn’t get wet! (Click any of the photos to enlarge)