How Clouds Are Formed
How are clouds formed?
Goal:
Goal:
Let’s take a closer look at how a cloud forms by making your own cloud in a jar. Click each tab on the left to follow the steps to make your own cloud. You will need a trusted adult to help you.
Step 1: Get Your Materials
You will have to complete each step quickly, so make sure you have all of your materials ready before you start.
You will need:
an adult to help you
boiling water
glass jar with a metal lid
hairspray
ice cubes
Step 2: Set up Your Experiment
With an adult helping you, pour boiling water into the jar a little less than halfway full. You should start to see steam right away. Steam is also called water vapor.
Step 3: Add Hairspray
With an adult helping you, spray one quick spray of hairspray into the jar. The hairspray is like the dust or pollen in the air that sticks to the water droplets in a cloud.
Step 4: Close the Lid
Close the jar lid. Place ice cubes on top of the lid, as many as will fit. The metal lid will start to get cold.
Step 5: Observe
Wait a few minutes. Observe what happens. Do you see a cloud forming?
Step 6: Conclusions: What happened to make a cloud form?
The boiling water created steam, or water vapor, that rose up to the lid
of the jar. The ice on top of the jar made the top of the jar colder.
This made the steam turn back into water droplets. The hairspray helped
the water droplets stick together and form a cloud.
Now, open the jar and see what happens.
Question
Why do you put ice on top of the jar?
The ice cools the lid and helps turn the steam back to water droplets. This forms the cloud.