How to make a Rainstorm in your kitchen!

Posted on 18th Apr 2011 | In Science With Mom! Blog

This week on Science With Mom! we’re going to make rain in our kitchens.

And no… the leak dripping into your kitchen from the upstairs bathroom doesn’t count.

We shall make rain I say! The great news is no ceremonial “harvest-protecting” dances will be required. Whew…! That’s a relief because I’m a pretty bad dancer.

Learn About the Water Cycle

To begin, I recommend you read the article; Learn about the Water Cycle. The article will make this exercise more enjoyable for your child as it explains the Water cycle as the continuous movement of the same water on our planet. Also, it points out that the amount of water on our planet is finite.

So what?

Well, it’s pretty incredible to think that the same water has been going around and around since the beginning of time. No new water has ever been created; it is just continually recycled through nature. Duh…hellooo… news to me.

The same precious water has been on the planet since its formation; just in different forms (liquid, solid or gas). The water that gushes out of your kitchen faucet may well be the same water your great-great-great granny drank back in 1842! Gross? Not one bit. The water in your tap is very clean due to filtration. Water is a very precious limited resource so it is important to keep our rivers and lakes free of pollutants.

Besides that same water could have been a cloud in the sky or a lump of ice in a diet coke just last week. Water really has an amazing life cycle!

Storm on a dessert spoon

Below is a super quick experiment. It allows us make rain drops in the same way a rain storm is created. It’s exactly the same process but on a much smaller scale.

AIM

To make a rainstorm in a kitchen.

STUFF YOU’LL NEED

Kettle

A large spoon or small hand mirror can be used

Freezer

WHAT TO DO

1. Put spoon in the freezer for half an hour
2. Boil the kettle
3. When the kettle reaches the boil place the spoon in the steam/water vapor.

WHAT’S THE DEAL?

When the liquid in the kettle boils, it is converted to steam (vapor) due to hitting the cold air outside the kettle. When this steam hits the frozen spoon (outside the kettle) it cools and condenses into water drops producing a miniature rain storm!

This is how all rain storms occur on the planet – holy camoly! Call the weather channel! The only difference is, an electric kettle, instead of the Sun, is the heat that powers our tiny rainstorm.

Water drops on spoon

It’s possible to see the entire water cycle just using a kettle and frozen spoon. As we saw when water vapor hits a cold spoon, it cools and condenses into water to produce raindrops on the spoon. You can also use a small hand mirror but I found the spoon much better.

In nature; heat from the Sun allows tiny water molecules to evaporate (change from liquid to gas) and raise up into the sky. As the warm, water-filled air rises, it cools, and a cloud of water vapor forms. As cold air can’t hold as much water as warm air, some of the water condenses and falls back to earth as rain, ice or snow.

Hey Presto! The incredible, unbelievable, fantastic Water Cycle has just occurred…yet AGAIN!

Science With Mom!

Would you like to learn more about the water cycle? You can download our free worksheet and coloring sheet to start right away!