ð Nov. 24 - AP class: Bugs walking on water isn’t a superhero power
Have you ever seen small bugs walk or skim along the surface of a lake or slow-moving river? If you tried that, you would soak your foot! These bugs don’t have a superhero power but are using a science trick. Let’s find out what that trick is as we watch some bugs walk on water:
Surface tension is the reason that a carefully placed needle or paperclip can float at the top of a cup, bubbles are round and how some tents keep water out.
Want to see another example of surface tension? Check out how water seems to defy gravity (thanks to surface tension) in this experiment from AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls:
ðï¸ Nov. 24 - Excursion Day: Unique tree shows us that ‘nature finds a way’
If a tornado or windstorm downs trees in a community, people work together to clean up the damage and usually plant more trees. What happens in a forest after a tornado or damaging winds strike and no one plants trees to replace those that were lost? Check out one neat sight that shows us how “nature finds a way”:
Can you think of another example? If so, send us your response through Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #AccuWeatherSchool and we may explore it later this year!
ð Nov. 20 - Weather Detectives! No air needed to blow up this balloon
You must have an adult help you with this experiment since using too much and too high of a concentration of bleach and hydrogen peroxide makes for a dangerous combination.
Only add a few tablespoons of bleach to the water bottle (and don’t drink out of the bottle!) and a couple of tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to add to the balloon.
We talked about weather balloons earlier at AccuWeather School, so it is only fitting to watch the above video. For weather balloons, meteorologists fill them up with hydrogen or helium before releasing them to soar high in the sky.
One important lesson on weather balloons is that the balloons are not what gathers the data for meteorologists – that’s done by a box that is attached to the balloon. Big word time – these boxes are called either radiosondes or rawinsondes.
Here’s one awesome job meteorologists get to do – launch balloons in the sky at least twice a day! They not only have fun doing so, but weather balloons play an important part in creating the forecast that you see on your AccuWeather app:
Weather balloons are released by meteorologists all across the world every 12 hours at the exact same time – at 7 a.m. EST and 7 p.m. EST. When there is a hurricane or major snowstorm threatening or another big weather event, balloons are launched even more often to improve the forecasting tools used by meteorologists.
As you apply pressure to the edge of the can that you are rubbing with the marker, it weakens the metal at an already weak point on the can. After some time, the weakened tab can’t hold back the air pressure inside the can, and it pops open – much like a Jack-in-the-Box!
ð¨ Nov. 17 - Art Class: Why mountains have rainy, dry sides
Pop-quiz time! Look at the rainfall map below for Oregon and surrounding states. Can you pick out where the mountains and valleys are?
If you said that the mountains are located where the heaviest rain fell (shown by the yellow and red colors), you get a gold star!
Check out western Oregon, it is easy to see where Willamette Valley is – it’s found in between the two red areas. Now, look at the top part of the image and see how 3-6 inches of rain poured down over the mountains in western Washington, but less than 0.10 of an inch on the other side of the mountains in central Washington!
The huge difference you see in rainfall totals between one side of mountains to the other happens frequently all over the world – the reason is the size of the mountains and wind direction. Let’s grab Play-Doh to understand this better:
Want to talk like a meteorologist? When air rises up a mountain, that is called an upslope flow. When air flows down the other side of the mountains, it’s called (you guessed it!) downslope flow.
Additional experiments and reporting by Jason Nicholls.
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AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 12-13
Updated Jan 10, 2021 4:45 PM EDT
ð Nov. 24 - AP class: Bugs walking on water isn’t a superhero power
Have you ever seen small bugs walk or skim along the surface of a lake or slow-moving river? If you tried that, you would soak your foot! These bugs don’t have a superhero power but are using a science trick. Let’s find out what that trick is as we watch some bugs walk on water:
Surface tension is the reason that a carefully placed needle or paperclip can float at the top of a cup, bubbles are round and how some tents keep water out.
For that last point, our friends at the USGS said that if water gets into your tent, you may be to blame. The surface tension will bring the pores of the tent material to keep the rain out, until you touch the tent and break the surface tension – causing the rain to seep in!
Want to see another example of surface tension? Check out how water seems to defy gravity (thanks to surface tension) in this experiment from AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls:
ðï¸ Nov. 24 - Excursion Day: Unique tree shows us that ‘nature finds a way’
If a tornado or windstorm downs trees in a community, people work together to clean up the damage and usually plant more trees. What happens in a forest after a tornado or damaging winds strike and no one plants trees to replace those that were lost? Check out one neat sight that shows us how “nature finds a way”:
The above tree was at the same state park in Pennsylvania where we took an excursion to see Little Bubbler.
We’ve seen other examples of “nature finding a way” during previous lessons. Remember the trees that were hanging on for dear life to avoid falling into Lake Erie and how there is a super generation of monarch butterflies.
Can you think of another example? If so, send us your response through Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #AccuWeatherSchool and we may explore it later this year!
ð Nov. 20 - Weather Detectives! No air needed to blow up this balloon
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls is back with another fun science experiment – blow up a balloon without taking a breath of air or using a tank of helium!
You must have an adult help you with this experiment since using too much and too high of a concentration of bleach and hydrogen peroxide makes for a dangerous combination.
Only add a few tablespoons of bleach to the water bottle (and don’t drink out of the bottle!) and a couple of tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to add to the balloon.
We talked about weather balloons earlier at AccuWeather School, so it is only fitting to watch the above video. For weather balloons, meteorologists fill them up with hydrogen or helium before releasing them to soar high in the sky.
One important lesson on weather balloons is that the balloons are not what gathers the data for meteorologists – that’s done by a box that is attached to the balloon. Big word time – these boxes are called either radiosondes or rawinsondes.
â¹ï¸âï¸ Nov. 20 - Gym class: Why meteorologists launch balloons everyday
Here’s one awesome job meteorologists get to do – launch balloons in the sky at least twice a day! They not only have fun doing so, but weather balloons play an important part in creating the forecast that you see on your AccuWeather app:
Weather balloons are released by meteorologists all across the world every 12 hours at the exact same time – at 7 a.m. EST and 7 p.m. EST. When there is a hurricane or major snowstorm threatening or another big weather event, balloons are launched even more often to improve the forecasting tools used by meteorologists.
It doesn’t matter what type of extreme weather is unfolding, the balloons will be sent up high in the sky – check out these videos of meteorologists launching a balloon in a blizzard and during strong tropical winds!
Thumbnail image courtesy of AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff.
ð¬ Nov. 17 - Weather Lab: Jack-in-the-Box, science-style
Make your friends or siblings jump with this science version of a Jack-in-the-Box that you can make at home with only a can of soda and a marker:
How did AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls get the can to open without lifting the tab?
As you apply pressure to the edge of the can that you are rubbing with the marker, it weakens the metal at an already weak point on the can. After some time, the weakened tab can’t hold back the air pressure inside the can, and it pops open – much like a Jack-in-the-Box!
Changing air pressure leads to the different weather that we experience day-to-day. High pressure usually leads to dry and sunny days, while you may need your umbrella or snow boots when low pressure is moving through your community.
ð¨ Nov. 17 - Art Class: Why mountains have rainy, dry sides
Pop-quiz time! Look at the rainfall map below for Oregon and surrounding states. Can you pick out where the mountains and valleys are?
If you said that the mountains are located where the heaviest rain fell (shown by the yellow and red colors), you get a gold star!
Check out western Oregon, it is easy to see where Willamette Valley is – it’s found in between the two red areas. Now, look at the top part of the image and see how 3-6 inches of rain poured down over the mountains in western Washington, but less than 0.10 of an inch on the other side of the mountains in central Washington!
The huge difference you see in rainfall totals between one side of mountains to the other happens frequently all over the world – the reason is the size of the mountains and wind direction. Let’s grab Play-Doh to understand this better:
Want to talk like a meteorologist? When air rises up a mountain, that is called an upslope flow. When air flows down the other side of the mountains, it’s called (you guessed it!) downslope flow.
Additional experiments and reporting by Jason Nicholls.
Previously:
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 10-11
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 8-9
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 6-7
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 4-5
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 2-3
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Week 1
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 13
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 12
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 11
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 10
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 9
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 8
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 7
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 6
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 5
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 4
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 3
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 2
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 1
AccuWeather School: Week 1
AccuWeather School: Week 2
AccuWeather School: Week 3
AccuWeather School: Week 4
AccuWeather School: Week 5
AccuWeather School: Week 6
AccuWeather School: Week 7
AccuWeather School: Week 8
AccuWeather School: Week 9