GRAND RAPIDS — We can see rain throughout our forecast pretty often, but have you ever wondered about the process for how it rains? Today we are going to show how it rains by making our own water cycle. This cycle can be broken down into 4 simple steps starting with evaporation then condensation, precipitation and finally flow or run off. Let's make our water cycle and see how it works!
What you need:
-sandwich bag
-marker
-tape or clip
-water
-blue food coloring
Step 1: Decorate your sandwich bag! Add a sun, a cloud and the water and ground surface.
Step 2: Add blue colored water about 1/4 cup of water to the bag and close it tight
Step 3: Hang your water cycle bag preferably on a wall in your home facing south with plenty of sunshine access.
Sit back, relax and watch the water cycle take place! How does this happen though?
The heat of the sun will help the water at the surface evaporate and then start to form little cloud droplets as it goes through the condensation processes. Those cloud droplets will condense so much forming those clouds and get heavy to eventually rain causing the precipitation process. This rain then falls back to the surface through the flow or run off process and ends back up in the water at the surface. Then the cycle starts all over again!
While you are watching your own water cycle go through those 4 steps you can learn a fun dance too! There is a cool water cycle dance that you can learn by clicking here and watch the video! Have some fun dance away while learning all about the water cycle!
You created the water cycle before your eyes and had some fun dancing too! Send our meteorologist Candace Monacelli your pictures doing this experiments at home! She will feature future meteorologists on my Facebook page daily!
