How could investigating what happens to the air getting warmed up near the ground help us explain some of the mechanisms that lead to hailstorms?
What do you think will happen to the air in the bottle when it is in contact with the COLD water? Why?
What do you think will happen to the air in the bottle when it is in contact with the HOT water? Why?
When representing the molecules that make up the air in the closed bottle system after cooling and after warming, how many dots should you draw?
Use the above ideas to represent changes in the behavior of the molecules that made up the air in the closed bottle system when you cooled and warmed it. As you work on your models, consider the following elements:
the number of molecules that make up the air in each bottle system
the length of the arrows to represent the speed of the molecules that make up the air in each bottle system
the amount of space between the molecules that make up the air in each bottle system
How did investigating the closed bottle system help us investigate our ideas about how a hailstorm forms?
Predict: If we could trap a larger amount of air in a balloon and add thermal energy to it from outside of the balloon, what does our model predict would happen to that air? Why?
What happened to the balloon?
Draw what happened to the air molecules in the balloon
Are the molecules in the balloons more densely packed before or after it was heated?
Teacher: Print out the last question on this document for students to work on with a partner.