116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
How do clouds work?
Experiments at home are a great way to have fun and do a little science at the same time without it feeling too much like school. A favorite experiment the library conducts at its STEAM programs demonstrates how clouds store water droplets until the droplets becomes too heavy and it rains.
Clouds form when the sun heats up water and the water turns from a liquid into a vapor. Water vapor collects around dust, pollen, and other particles in the air and becomes tiny water droplets. This collection of particles and water droplets is a cloud. As clouds fill with more and more water droplets, those droplets eventually become too heavy and fall from the cloud, making rain clouds.
This colorful and easy experiment demonstrates this natural phenomenon.
This experiment needs:
- 1 medium/large clear glass or jar
- Shaving cream
- Eye dropper or syringe
- Food coloring (red, yellow, blue)
- 6 smaller jars or cups
- Cold water
1. Fill up a clear glass or jar with cold water, leaving room at the top.
2. Fill three of the smaller cups or jars with water. Add a few drops of red food coloring into one of the full cups. Repeat this step, creating cups of yellow and blue water.
3. Create each color of the rainbow in the remaining cups by combining two of the primary colors. (Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple).
4. Shake and then evenly spray the shaving cream into the larger, clear glass of water. This is your cloud!
5. Fill up the eyedropper with one color of water and empty it into the shaving cream. Continue to do this, changing the color with each refill of the dropper.
6. Add eyedroppers full of colored water until colored water starts to leak out below the shaving cream into the bottom of the glass.
7. Make predictions about which color will fall out of the clouds first. For more STEAM fun with the library, visit events.crlibrary.org/events to register for the Habitats and Hibernation Mini Camp for kids in kindergarten through second grade on Dec. 28-30 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. or Maker Mini Camp for kids in third through fifth grade on Dec. 28-30 from 1-3 p.m. at the Downtown Library.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
1. Fill up a clear glass or jar with cold water, leaving room at the top. (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
2. Fill three of the smaller cups or jars with water. Add a few drops of red food coloring into one of the full cups. Repeat this step, creating cups of yellow and blue water. (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
3. Create each color of the rainbow in the remaining cups by combining two of the primary colors. (Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple). (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
4. Shake and then evenly spray the shaving cream into the larger, clear glass of water. This is your cloud! (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
5. Fill up the eyedropper with one color of water and empty it into the shaving cream. Continue to do this, changing the color with each refill of the dropper. (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
6. Add eyedroppers full of colored water until colored water starts to leak out below the shaving cream into the bottom of the glass. (Photo provided by Cedar Rapids Public Library)
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