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Making and Understanding Clouds in a Bottle

Hypothesis: an increase in air pressure will increase temperature causing clouds to dissipate; a decrease in air pressure will have the opposite effect

Materials:

Goggles, 2 Liter bottle, bottle top outfit, thermometer strip, 25 ml graduated cylinder, tape, 25-30 ml room temp water.

Procedure:

Carefully tape the temperature strip to the inside of the bottle.
Add 25-30 ml room temperature water to the bottle.
Place the cap outfit tightly on the bottle.
Read and record the temperature.
Attach the pump tip to the cap tubing.
Pump the bottle and read the temperature again. Record temperature.
Release the pressure and observe what happens to the temperature. Record.
Record all observations.

Observations: Record below.

Conclusions:

    Student Inquiry :

    1. What happens to the temperature when you pumped the bottle?
    2. Why does this happen?
    3. What happens when you released the pressure on the bottle?
    4. Why does this happen?
    5. Based on this activity, write a general statement about the role of temperature and pressure in cloud
           formation.

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Making and Understanding Clouds in a Bottle Activity

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