WEST MICHIGAN — Looking for a fun activity to do at home with your kids? This science experiment is fun for all times of the year, but especially in the fall! This experiment displays convection and density in action.
Meteorologist Haleigh Vaughn visited Mr. Ablao's and Mrs. Salvatore's 6th-grade science classrooms at Mattawan Middle School to work with the students on these experiments.
Looking to join in on the fun from home? Here's what you'll need:
1. Tea bags
2. Scissors
3. Markers
4. Lighter
5. Safety goggles
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Remove all tea from the tea bag, including the string and tag.
Step 2: Cut both ends of the tea bag, that way it forms a cylinder.
Step 3: Decorate the tea bag to look like a ghost.
Step 4: Put on safety goggles and have adult supervision to use the lighter
Step 5: Adults light the top of the tea bag on fire.
Step 6: Watch the tea bags float ... looking just like floating ghosts!
This experiment highlights the power of heat, convection, and density. The floating ghosts work in the same way as a hot air balloon ... or even a rocket! Heat naturally rises. When the fire is lit and heats up, the air inside the cylinder of the tea bag expands. This causes it to become lighter (less dense) than the air around it. The added heat is forcing a density change, leading to an upward motion of the bag.