Make Your Own Pet Cloud

This activity was provided by the Cooperative Research Centre for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology

What You Need

• large clear plastic PET bottle with cap. The label should be removed.
• water
• matches

What To Do

1. Pour a little cold water into the bottle.
2. Screw on the cap and shake the bottle.
3. Squeeze and release the bottle a few times. (Does anything happen inside the bottle?)
4. Open the bottle and drop a lit match into it. (The match will go out when it hits the water.)
5. Screw on the cap and shake the bottle.
6. Squeeze and release again.

Why does shaking the bottle help the experiment?
Why do you think the smoke from the match helps the cloud form?
Repeat the activity using hot water. Does it work better?

When water condenses, the droplets may form clouds. Particles of dust assist the formation of droplets. Without tiny particles in the air, clouds would not form. Droplets in clouds are small enough to be supported by the air. When they join together to form larger droplets that can no longer be supported, rain falls. It takes about one million cloud droplets to make an average size rain drop.

Fact: Cloud particles consist of tiny droplets of liquid water or ice. The size of these particles ranges from approximately 5 to 75 microns (0.005 to 0.075 mm).