Hot Air Pinwheel

Materials – toy pinwheel, pot of boiling water, pot-holder glove

Have an adult boil a pot of water.
With an adult’s help, wear a pot-holder glove and hold a toy pinwheel over the steam of the boiling water. Observe what happens to the pinwheel.
Now move the pinwheel away from the steam and see what happens.

What [...]

Hot Air Eggsperiment

Materials

one peeled, hard-boiled egg
plastic or glass bottle with an opening, slightly smaller than the egg
two large bowls, one filled with hot water and one filled with ice cold water

Directions

Put the bottle in the bowl of hot water [...]

Hot Air Straw Experiment

Materials

two straws
2 glasses
water
label or piece of masking tape
blue tac (some type of putty)

Directions

Pour some water in a glass until it is about 1 inch or 2.5 cm full.
Put the two straws in the glass so that the water flows into the bottom of both straws.
Divide the blue tac in half, [...]

Hot Air Bottle Collapse

Materials – two plastic bottles with caps
Directions

Get two plastic bottles with caps.  Put the caps on the bottles.
Place one bottle into the freezer and leave the second bottle on the counter as a control.
Wait approximately 5 [...]

Hot Air

Air is made up of molecules that are constantly in motion. As air warms up, the molecules start to vibrate and bump into each other, increasing the space around each molecule. Because each molecule uses more space for motion, the air expands and becomes less dense (lighter). In other words, the same number of [...]