CASCADE, Mich. — Looking for a fun activity to do at home with your kids? This science experiment is fun for all ages and teaches how tornadoes form!
Meteorologist Isabella Hulsizer visited third graders at Pine Ridge Elementary to work with the students on these experiments.
Looking to join in on the fun from home? Here's what you'll need:
1. Two, two liter soda bottles
2. Water
3. A coupler
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Fill up one two-liter bottle with water.
Step 2: Connect two-liter bottles together with a coupler or tape.
Step 3: Shake the top bottle full of water.
Step 4: Watch the tornado form as water transfers from one bottle to the other!
This experiment highlights tornadoes and their vortex. A plastic coupler ties or links the bottles together which causes inverted water on top, inducing a spin will create a tornado, vortex, or swirling motion which will drain into the lower bottle. The purpose is to replicate a tornado with the spinning water and vortex transferring from one bottle to another. Tornadoes are created by a spinning motion. Many times when cold and warm air meet, that can force, start, or induce a spinning motion in the atmosphere. Whether in a bottle of water or in the atmosphere, it's fluid dynamics. Both operate in a similar fashion. Putting a spin on the water bottles will ultimately create a tornado or vortex in the bottle.