Now that we know why water can become visible, and that water is a molecule, we decided to see how similar or different air was to water.. We did some investigations with things that could tell us more about air!
First off, air has to be made of particles because when we use a syringe filled with air, the air can be compressed. If it couldn't, then that would mean there was no empty spaces around the particles. Additionally, using a soccer ball and some balloons, we figured out that air has mass, and we know that things that have mass must be made of matter. So all this particle talk got us thinking that air and water were pretty similar. But is air a molecule like water is a molecule?
We did a reading to help us uncover a LOT about air!
We did a reading to help us uncover a LOT about air!
The reading helped us see that air isn't a molecule, but rather made up of a mixture of molecules, like oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, and other molecules like pollen, dust, and pollution. We spent quite a bit of time making models of what we think this looks like, and here is some student examples of air's mixture of molecules. |
Now that we know air is a mixture of molecules, and that due to all the empty space around these particles there is room for more stuff in the air...like water...which we know is humidity, which is what is needed for FOG! We think that wind and temperature may also play a role in fog, so as we're thinking about making our fog machines we want the following: |
1. Heat (like a hot plate or hair dryer)
2. Cold (like ice or a refrigerator)
3. Air (there's plenty of this at school, but there's not a lot of "other molecules" so we might want to get powder, dust, or lint to throw into the air)
4. Wind (so we want fans!)
5. Water (there's plenty of that at school, too)
6. Humidity (Mrs. Brinza's got 4 humidifiers at school currently and she offered to keep them there)
We'll be revisiting our initial models of fog come Tuesday to see how our thinking has changed! And then we'll be designing and building our fog machines!
2. Cold (like ice or a refrigerator)
3. Air (there's plenty of this at school, but there's not a lot of "other molecules" so we might want to get powder, dust, or lint to throw into the air)
4. Wind (so we want fans!)
5. Water (there's plenty of that at school, too)
6. Humidity (Mrs. Brinza's got 4 humidifiers at school currently and she offered to keep them there)
We'll be revisiting our initial models of fog come Tuesday to see how our thinking has changed! And then we'll be designing and building our fog machines!