Evaporation in the water cycle
Combine this experiment with other water vapor and weather activities.
Objectives:
Students see an example of how wind increases evaporation in an experimental format.
Materials:
Focus:
Lead a discussion of all the places we find water in the world such as lakes, rivers, oceans, rain , fog ect. Have the students write a list of all the places water is naturally found. Ask students to relate prior knowledge (or have students speculate) of how water moves from one place to another. For instance, rivers flow to the sea. Lakes collect rainfall. Have the students write simple sentences that accurately describe movements in the water cycle.
Procedure:
Give each group of students an area of chalkboard to draw with. Have them include mountains and other features. Students use their lists of bodies of water to include these features in their chalkboard pictures. Students also use their simple sentences to guide the pictures being drawn. Have groups work together to link the various pictures into one large landscape panorama. Now present the experiment:
How does wind affect evaporation?
Draw and define two equally sized areas on the chalkboard picture. Label one area A and the other B. Spray both areas equally with water from the spray bottle so that all the students agree that they are equally wet. Now have a group of students blow air on area A but no one blows on area B. In which area will the water dry fastest?
Conclusions:
Have the students describe conclusions from what they saw in area A and B. What was the only difference between A and B? Does this help show that wind speeds up evaporation? When the wind is blowing outside what can we know about what is happening to ponds or lakes in your local area?
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