The Movement of Air
Science today was exciting…..and kind of smothering! We set up shop in the lab to investigate the movement of hot and cold air. Our materials included: 2 convection tubes, ice, hot water, a flashlight, and punk sticks. Yes, the same sticks you use to light fireworks. The punk sticks were our smoke source and allowed us to see the movement of the air. They also are to blame for our stinky clothes and smoky lab. 
We started off investigating the movement of cold air. We placed the ice in one convection tube. From there, we carefully put the smoking punk stick through a funnel connected to the convection tube. We then turned out the lights and shined a flashlight through the tubes to see how the air moved. We found that cold air moved very slowly and hovered around the ice. It looked very heavy and thick. Also, a lot of the air was pushed out through the funnel, not the top of the tube. This happened because heavy, dense air sinks.
We then repeated the entire process with hot water. Almost immediately, the smoke from our punk stick began rising out of the top of our convection tube. The air was moving quickly and had a wispy or light look about it. This makes sense because we know that light, less dense air will always rise. There was also a lot of moisture around the convection tube. A few students recognized this process as evaporation.
I was very pleased with every class today in the lab. Thank you students. You all did a very nice job in your investigation.
Apply what you know. If earth’s surface was cold, what would happen to the air above it? If the surface was hot, what would happen to the air above it? Do you think air takes on the temperature of the surface beneath it? Think about it and be ready to discuss this on Monday!
Pictures are below! Enjoy![rockyou 83288876]
