Without wind, the weather man wouldn't have much to talk about! Blow away your junior meteorologists with a creative demonstration of how wind works. The activity uses an empty soda bottle and compressible Styrofoam peanuts to illustrate the effects of changing pressure within a system.

Concepts

wind, atmospheric pressure, pressure, weather, making observations, gas laws, compression

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Make the opening discussion of wind and weather more relevant by including local geography and how it affects conditions in your area
• Ask pupils to hypothesize how using a bigger bottle would affect the demonstration
  

Classroom Considerations

• Use marshmallows, rather than Styrofoam peanuts, for an eco-friendly lab
• The activity requires a Fizz Keeper pump cap to add pressure to the soda bottle

Pros

• Makes clear connections between pressure and geographical features to give students a clear picture of why winds move and change
• The teacher's guide includes tips for turning the demonstration into small-group experiments 
  

Cons

• None