Convection Currents
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Science Concept & Application
I chose to research convection currents for my Knights of Science presentation. For my experiment, I did a Colorful Convection Currents experiment from Steve Spangler’s book, “Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste”. In this experiment, you successfully use glass jars, cold and hot water, and food coloring to display convection currents.
Convection currents are applied to our everyday lives not only by meteorology, or boiling water but also by wind and weather patterns. The convection currents in the air cause weather and wind changes. As the warm air rises, the cooler air takes its place. This creates wind and driving weather systems. A couple of examples of driving systems would be storms and breezes. Two last examples of convection currents are campfires and fireplaces. When a fire burns, the hot air rises. The cooler air eventually replaces it, feeding the fire with oxygen. With this process, the flame is maintained and will create an upward movement of smoke. |
Career
A career that uses convection currents quite often is a meteorologist. Convection currents are the circular movement of fluids (liquids or gases) caused by the variation in temperature and density within the substance. To simplify that, convection currents are the circular movement of liquids or gases caused by heat. Convection currents are important in meteorology because they play a key role in shaping the weather, and climate.
Meteorologists use convection currents to predict weather patterns, see wind patterns, and explain temperature changes. They also use convection currents to track global circulation and explain cloud and rain formation. In conclusion, convection currents are a great tool for any meteorologist. They help them accurately predict the weather and keep us informed. Scientist
The famous meteorologist I chose for this assignment is Joanne Simpson. Joanne Simpson was the first woman in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology. She received her Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 1949. Early in Simpson's career, she developed the first cloud model. She also figured out what makes hurricanes run, and what drives the atmospheric currents in the tropics.
Joanne worked for NASA for over 24 years. Some of her unique experiments still impact meteorology to this day. While working for NASA she led efforts in cloud modeling as well as space-based meteorology experiments. With Simpson’s quick mind, she continued to make important contributions to the study of the atmosphere. Joanne passed away on March 4, 2010, after a life full of discoveries and contributions to science. |
Essay
I chose to research convection currents for my Knights of Science presentation. For my experiment, I did a Colorful Convection Currents experiment from “Fire Bubbles and Exploding Toothpaste”. In this experiment, you use glass jars, cold and hot water, and food coloring to successfully display convection currents.
Convection currents are the movements of fluid caused by different temperatures. We are surrounded by convection currents in our everyday life. One example would be boiling water. The water at the bottom of a pot of boiling water gets hot and rises. When the water cools it sinks and creates a swirling motion.
For my experiment, I did the colorful convections demonstration seen in Steve Spangler's book. For this experiment, you need: four identical glass jars with a lid of about an inch in diameter, access to cold and hot water, yellow and blue food coloring, a playing card, masking tape, a pen, and paper towels. To begin the experiment you need to fill one of the jars with hot water, and one jar with cold water. You need to put masking tape on the jars. Label the tape cold or warm.
Color the jars filled with water with the food coloring. The colors you use doesn't matter. I used yellow for cold water and blue for warm water. For the first experiment carefully place the cold water on top of the hot water. To place the jar on top of the other you can use a playing card firmly held, to place the cold water on top of the hot water. Carefully remove the playing card.
These are the observations I made after conducting this part of the experiment. When the hot water was on the bottom, the yellow water and the blue water stayed separate. Because warm water naturally rises, the cold water stays below. For the second part of the experiment, I placed the cold water jar on the bottom. I discovered the colored waters to quickly mix and form a new color, green. This happens because the hot water on top wants to rise while the cold water winks down. This creates convection currents.
Overall the experiment was easy to conduct. Even as simple as it was, it created a great demonstration of convection currents. I did have a few problems with the experiment. It can be tricky to get the bottles perfectly on top of eachother. This took a few tries, as well as a few spills. I think this is a great experiment for teachers to show their students the ends and outs of convection currents.
If I did this experiment again in the future, here are the changes I would make. First I would try thinner bottles, as well as thicker bottles, to see which would work best. I also wonder if there are better colors to use. It might be neat to use a really dark color and a light color. For example, maybe black water and white water. If that didnt work, I might try red and yellow to create orange. I dont think the color will determine the success of the experiment, but i do wonder if there are better colors for this.
My conclusion from this experiment is that convection currents occur when warm water rises and cool fluids sink. When the hot water is on top, there is no mixing because it is already in its natural position. When the hot water is on the bottom, it rises while the cooler water sinks. This causes mixing and swirling, which can help visualize convection currents.
Convection currents not only surround us everyday, but also in a few careers. One career that involves convection currents would be a meteorologist. Meteorologists use convection currents to predict weather patterns, see wind patterns, and explain temperature changes. They also use convection currents to track global circulation and explain cloud and rain formation. Convection currents are a great tool for any meteorologist. They help them accurately predict the weather and keep us informed.
Convection currents are applied to our everyday lives not only by meteorology, or boiling water. Wind and weather patterns are more great examples of convection currents. The convection currents in the air cause weather and wind changes. As the warm air rises, the cooler air takes its place. This creates wind and driving weather systems. A couple of examples of driving systems would be storms and breezes.
Another example of convection currents in our everyday life would be a room heater. When the heater is turned on it heats the air around it. The warm air rises because it's less dense. As the colder air sinks it takes its place. This is also why ceilings tend to be warmer, and the floors tend to be colder.
Ocean currents are another great example of convection currents. Convection currents actually play a role in ocean circulation. Warm water from the equator rises up. That warm water moves towards the poles. The cooler water sinks and moves toward the equator. This helps regulate the global climate.
Another example of convection currents in our everyday life would be hot air balloons. The way a hot air balloon works is that the heated air inside of the balloon slowly becomes less dense and eventually rises, lifting up the balloon. When the air inside the hot air balloon cools down, it makes the balloon descend.
Two last examples of convection currents are campfires and fireplaces. When a fire burns, the hot air rises. The cooler air eventually replaces it, feeding the fire with oxygen. With this process, the flame is maintaines and will create an upward movement of smoke.
So, as you can see, convection currents surround us daily, whether we realize it or not.
Convection currents are the movements of fluid caused by different temperatures. We are surrounded by convection currents in our everyday life. One example would be boiling water. The water at the bottom of a pot of boiling water gets hot and rises. When the water cools it sinks and creates a swirling motion.
For my experiment, I did the colorful convections demonstration seen in Steve Spangler's book. For this experiment, you need: four identical glass jars with a lid of about an inch in diameter, access to cold and hot water, yellow and blue food coloring, a playing card, masking tape, a pen, and paper towels. To begin the experiment you need to fill one of the jars with hot water, and one jar with cold water. You need to put masking tape on the jars. Label the tape cold or warm.
Color the jars filled with water with the food coloring. The colors you use doesn't matter. I used yellow for cold water and blue for warm water. For the first experiment carefully place the cold water on top of the hot water. To place the jar on top of the other you can use a playing card firmly held, to place the cold water on top of the hot water. Carefully remove the playing card.
These are the observations I made after conducting this part of the experiment. When the hot water was on the bottom, the yellow water and the blue water stayed separate. Because warm water naturally rises, the cold water stays below. For the second part of the experiment, I placed the cold water jar on the bottom. I discovered the colored waters to quickly mix and form a new color, green. This happens because the hot water on top wants to rise while the cold water winks down. This creates convection currents.
Overall the experiment was easy to conduct. Even as simple as it was, it created a great demonstration of convection currents. I did have a few problems with the experiment. It can be tricky to get the bottles perfectly on top of eachother. This took a few tries, as well as a few spills. I think this is a great experiment for teachers to show their students the ends and outs of convection currents.
If I did this experiment again in the future, here are the changes I would make. First I would try thinner bottles, as well as thicker bottles, to see which would work best. I also wonder if there are better colors to use. It might be neat to use a really dark color and a light color. For example, maybe black water and white water. If that didnt work, I might try red and yellow to create orange. I dont think the color will determine the success of the experiment, but i do wonder if there are better colors for this.
My conclusion from this experiment is that convection currents occur when warm water rises and cool fluids sink. When the hot water is on top, there is no mixing because it is already in its natural position. When the hot water is on the bottom, it rises while the cooler water sinks. This causes mixing and swirling, which can help visualize convection currents.
Convection currents not only surround us everyday, but also in a few careers. One career that involves convection currents would be a meteorologist. Meteorologists use convection currents to predict weather patterns, see wind patterns, and explain temperature changes. They also use convection currents to track global circulation and explain cloud and rain formation. Convection currents are a great tool for any meteorologist. They help them accurately predict the weather and keep us informed.
Convection currents are applied to our everyday lives not only by meteorology, or boiling water. Wind and weather patterns are more great examples of convection currents. The convection currents in the air cause weather and wind changes. As the warm air rises, the cooler air takes its place. This creates wind and driving weather systems. A couple of examples of driving systems would be storms and breezes.
Another example of convection currents in our everyday life would be a room heater. When the heater is turned on it heats the air around it. The warm air rises because it's less dense. As the colder air sinks it takes its place. This is also why ceilings tend to be warmer, and the floors tend to be colder.
Ocean currents are another great example of convection currents. Convection currents actually play a role in ocean circulation. Warm water from the equator rises up. That warm water moves towards the poles. The cooler water sinks and moves toward the equator. This helps regulate the global climate.
Another example of convection currents in our everyday life would be hot air balloons. The way a hot air balloon works is that the heated air inside of the balloon slowly becomes less dense and eventually rises, lifting up the balloon. When the air inside the hot air balloon cools down, it makes the balloon descend.
Two last examples of convection currents are campfires and fireplaces. When a fire burns, the hot air rises. The cooler air eventually replaces it, feeding the fire with oxygen. With this process, the flame is maintaines and will create an upward movement of smoke.
So, as you can see, convection currents surround us daily, whether we realize it or not.
