Day 95 Clouds

Weather Web Quest 2: Clouds

Weather 6 x 6

1.       Follow this link: http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.html

1. condensation: The process by which a gas or vapor changes to a liquid

2. troposphere: The layer of the atmosphere from the ground to around 33,000 feet (10 kilometers). This is where much of the weather we experience occurs

3. stratus: a cloud of a class characterized by a gray, horizontal layer with a uniform base, found at a lower altitude than altostratus, usually below 8000 feet

4. altostratus: a cloud of a class characterized by a generally uniform gray sheet or layer, lighter in color than nimbostratus and darker than cirrostratus: of medium altitude, about 8000–20,000 feet

5. cirrus: Cirrus clouds are thin, wispy clouds blown by high winds into long streamers. They are considered "high clouds" cirrus clouds usually move across the sky from west to east. They generally mean fair to pleasant weather

6. cumulous: Cumulus clouds are puffy clouds that sometimes look like pieces of floating cotton. The base of each cloud is often flat and may be only 1000 m above the ground

*If you want to play a cloud game, you can, your choice!

2.       Follow this link: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

1. What are clouds? A: A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air

2.  How are clouds formed? A: All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can't hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud

3. Why are clouds white? A: Clouds are white because they reflect white off the sun clouds are made up of the colors of the rainbow and together they all make white

4. Why do clouds turn gray? A: Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, usually a mixture of both, the water and ice scatter all light making clouds appear white, if the clouds get thick enough or high enough all the light above does not make it through hence the gray dark looking clouds

5. Why do clouds float? A: A cloud is made up of liquid water droplets. A cloud is formed when air is heated by the sun, As it rises, it slowly cools it reaches the saturation point and water condenses, forming a cloud. As long as the cloud and the air that its made of is warmer than the outside air around it, it floats!

6. How do clouds move? A: Clouds move with the wind. High cirrus clouds are pushed along by the jet stream, sometimes traveling at more than 100 miles-per-hour. When clouds are part of a thunderstorm they usually travel at 30 to 40 mph

3.       Follow this link: http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/collecting/

*Read site and write 6 facts/details you learned

1. The main types of clouds are Cumulus, Stratocumulus, Stratus, Altocumulus, Altostratus, Cirrus, Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus, Nimbostratus, and Cumulonimbus 

2. Some other kinds of clouds are, noctilucent, nacreous, diamond dust, fog, horseshoe vortex cloud, fall streak hole, roll cloud, pyrocumulus, contrail, Kelvin Helm-Holtz cloud, and cap/banner cloud

3. The species and varieties of clouds are, lenticularis, fibratus, castellanus, undulatus, lacunosus, radiatus, and duplicatus

4. The accessory clouds and supplementary features of clouds are, pileus, velum, pannus, mamma, virga, arcus, tuba, and incus
5. The Optical effects that are caused by clouds are, iridescence, corona, crepuscular rays, anti-crepuscular rays, glory, rainbow, cloudbow, 22 degree halo, sundogs, circumzenithal arcs, and a sun/moon pillar

6. The stratus and Cumulus clouds are the clouds closest to the Earth’s surface; The Cumulonimbus clouds and cirrus clouds are the farthest away from the Earth’s surface

4.        Follow this link: http://www.wxdude.com/page9.html

*Read through website and write 6 good sentences about clouds!

1. Clouds are made up of water as you probably already know; the kind of water in a cloud is in gas form and is called water vapor.

2. On days that clouds don’t appear it means the air is too clean, the air needs to be just a little bit dirty for clouds to form because the water vapor needs a surface to condense.

3. If clouds form at a higher level, they get the name cirro at the beginning of their name, if clous form in the middle level, they get alto, the lower level clouds don’t get a prefix.

4. Each kind of cloud forms in a different way and brings its own different type of weather.

5. In Latin Cumulus means heap, some clouds have this in their name because they might look like a big heap of white cotton.

6. Stratus in Latin means covering or blanket, some clouds have stratus in their name because they might look like they are covering the air, stratus clouds look like a white blanket in the sky.

5.       Follow this link: http://www.carlwozniak.com/clouds/CloudPix.html

*Look through pictures and Choose your 6 favorite to Save As in AAASchool 2011 and then Copy here & identify

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6.       Cloud Experiment: Six Steps/ Observations/ Conclusions

1. Materials: 2-liter clear plastic bottle, matches, and warm water.

2. First we filled the bottle with warm water, we squeezed the bottle and nothing happened, we squeezed again and there was a little bit of condensation.

3. We lit a match and dropped it in the water, we closed a lid and it formed a cloud inside the bottle.

4. We squeezed the bottle again and let go when we squeezed the bottle the cloud disappeared when we let it go the cloud reappeared, every time we did this the same thing happened.

5. What happened? Water vapor can be made into condensed form, or a cloud.

6. By putting the match into the warm water it enhanced the air pressure of the water vapor and created a cloud.

CLOUD IN A BOTTLE

MATERIALS:

• 2-liter clear plastic pop bottle
• matches (children will need adult assistance to light matches)
• warm water

PROCESS:

Fill the clear plastic 2-liter bottle one-third full of warm water and place the cap on. As warm water evaporates, it adds water vapor to the air inside the bottle. This is the first ingredient to make a cloud.

Squeeze and release the bottle and observe what happens. You’ll notice that nothing happens. Why? The squeeze represents the warming that occurs in the atmosphere. The release represents the cooling that occurs in the atmosphere. If the inside of the bottle becomes cover with condensation or water droplets, just shake the bottle to get rid of them.

Take the cap off the bottle. Carefully light a match and hold the match near the opening of the bottle.

Then drop the match in the bottle and quickly put on the cap, trapping the smoke inside. Dust, smoke or other particles in the air is the second ingredient to make a cloud.

Once again, slowly squeeze the bottle hard and release. What happens? A cloud appears when you release and disappears when you squeeze. The third ingredient in clouds is a drop in air pressure.

EXPLANATION:

Water vapor, water in its invisible gaseous state, can be made to condense into the form of small cloud droplets. By adding particles such as the smoke enhances the process of water condensation and by squeezing the bottle causes the air pressure to drop. This creates a cloud!