Build Your Own Hydrologic Cycle

 

 
 
 
 

What You Do:
 

First, you need to make a miniature world.  Put about an inch of warm water in the bottom of a thick microwaveable glass to form a lake.  Then place a piece of plastic wrap over the top of your glass, sealing in the atmosphere.  You may want to put a rubber band around the plastic wrap to hold it in place.

 
 
 
 

Next, ask your parent's permission to use the oven.  Let them help you turn the oven on to 100°F and place the glass inside.    Wait for about thirty minutes.  The heat from the oven acts like the heat from the sun and warms the water.  After a while, some of the water from the lake should evaporate into the atmosphere within your miniature world.  You won't be able to see the water in the atmosphere yet.

 
 
 

Using the oven mitts, have your parents help you remove the glass from the oven and place it in the refrigerator.  Now you are cooling the water vapor in the atmosphere of your world.  After about twenty minutes, you should be able to see water droplets forming on the inside of the glass.  Smaller droplets will collect into larger droplets and run back into the lake at the bottom of the cup - your world is raining!