Hurricane Physics

Goals:

1. The students will learn about some of the fundamentals of physics.
2. The students will practice making scientific observations.
3. The students will learn some characteristics of a hurricane.

Resources/Materials:

1. Paper
2. Scissors
3. Needle and thread
4. String
5. Table lamp
6. Lab report Guidelines
7. Modeling Clay
8. Tape
9. Water
10. Plastic bottles (empty soda containers)
11. Food coloring
12. Spoon
13. Yo-yo
14. Buttons

Time:

The students will be given on and a half hours to complete this center.

Procedure:

1. The students will work in teams of two or three people. This center will have three stations - each containing a basic experiment and question for the teams to complete. Different teams will work on different experiments at the same time. During each of the experiments, the team is responsible for completing a lab report.
2. Station #1 - How do warm temperatures contribute and effect hurricane information? To begin, the group need to cut out a spiral from a piece of paper. This spiral then needs to be attached to a piece of thread. Once the thread is attached, hold the spiral by the thread over a table lamp (with the lamp shade removed). The students need to watch what happens and record their results in the lab report.
3. Station #2 - What happens in the center of the hurricane? To begin this experiment the students need to attach a piece of string to a block of modeling clay. Then the students need to collect two plastic beverage bottles; one should have the bottom cut off and removed. The students need to hold the bottle with the cut or removed end up, above the other bottle. They should then join the two bottles together by taping their necks. Now the students need to place the clay with the string attached in the top of the open bottles, using it as a plug between the two. The top bottle should then be filled with colored water. The water should be stirred in a curcualr fasion with the long handled spoon. Once the water is stirring, the clay plug should be pulled out, and the team should try to susspend it in the center of the swirling water. The team should observe what is happening and record the observations in their lab report.
4. Station #3 - What happens to the eye of the hurricane as wind and speed increases? To solve or answer this question, the groups need to design their own experiment. Materials will be laid out for them to use, but as a team they need to decide how to answer this question (i.e. They could whirl a yo-yo or button on a string around their head). When the groups have finished this experiment, they will need to write out what they did and record their findings in the lab report.

    

   Assessment:

    
   1. The teams will turn in their lab report which will be assessed by the teacher. This lab report will be returned to the team with teacher feedback and comments wrriten on it. (Criteria for success = The lab report is fully completed, and all questions are answered to the team's fullest ability.)

       

   2. The students will full out peer and self evalution rubrics. (Criteria for success = The students must average a 3 on both peer and self evaluation rubrics.)

      Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

       
      1. Science - weather, hurricanes, making hypothesis, observations, and conclusions

          

      2. Language Arts - critical thinking, writing

          

         Possible Extensions:

          
         1. The students would track hurricanes and weather patterns using the Internet.

            -Weather Outline(http://weatheronline.com/tropical/index.html

            -NationalHurricaneCenter/TropicalPredictionCenter (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov)

             

         2. The teacher could start teaching the students about meteorology and weather.

            -Theweatherunit (http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/WEATHER/weather.html)

       

      1. The students could learn about hurricane safety.

      -Hurricane Safety  

      *This lesson was adapted from: Kent publishing Serivces (1996). Creative Kids Science Projects on Hurricanes. Frank Schaffer Publications, INC.