Tornado Tube Demonstration
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ward
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science
Recommended Grade Level(s):
Appropriate for: 5th Grade–8th Grade
Time Requirements:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Activity Time: 30 minutes
Teaching Topics & Concepts:
1. What makes a tornado so powerful?
2. How realistic was the movie Twister?
3. Where can the power of a vortex be useful?
Materials:
• Bottle Connectors
• Two soda bottles per student or pair of students
• Plastic confetti, and/or small items like charms or beads
• Sand
• Glitter
• Movie clip from movie "Twister"
• Student Handouts
• Internet access
Procedure:
1. View a clip from the movie Twister, which shows a funnel cloud and tornado, or vortex, up close, and the scientists looking at
readings on the computer.
2. Define a list of terms the scientists were using.
3. Prepare the two bottles with water, objects, and connector.
4. Turn the bottles so one is upside down above the other. Shake in a circular motion to get vortex to begin.
5. Identify what is happening in the bottle with vocabulary words.
6. Compare what happens to the small objects in the bottle to what happens to the larger ones.
7. Look at the bottom of the "tornado". Consider what technology also uses a vortex of sorts. List your suggestions and share
with the class. Look at the top of the vortex, which is impossible to see of a tornado from the ground. Share where else in
nature or technology you see this action.
Find materials for this activity at wardsci.com.
Discover more free activities at wardsworld.wardsci.com
