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Procedure (continued):
8. Go online, read and summarize one article about measuring wind force, or Doppler radar, or tornado safety.
9. Other Ideas: Connect two small soda bottles and make a sand timer. Emphasize the vortex, and patterns in the water,
by adding colored glitter before shaking the bottle.
Assessment:
Vocabulary:
• Funnel cloud: a partial vortex, not reaching the ground.
• Vortex: a spiral or whirling mass of water or air that draws objects with it to the center, or "eye".
• Doppler: a visual echo of storms in this case from targets to measure their speed
• Cloud rotation: When a cloud appears to have a circular formation and could spin or is spinning.
• Fujita scale: Measures the intensity of a tornado by examining the damage caused by the tornado to man-made structures.
Observation:
• Using terms 1–4 above, explain what you see happening in the bottle.
Answer may resemble the following: The water represents the _________ air, and the space in the center is air. In a tornado, this
would be warm air rising through cold air. At the bottom of the bottle is the touchdown of the funnel, at the top is the same thing as
cloud rotation in a real tornado. The strength of the funnel dictates the items it moves. If we had a way to measure this, which is the
use of Doppler, we could know the strength of the funnel and be prepared.
• Which objects are affected most in the bottle?
Answer: The larger ones
Application:
• Look at the bottom of the "tornado". Consider what technology also uses a vortex of sorts. List your suggestions and share
with the class.
- Vacuum cleaner
• Look at the top of the funnel, which is impossible to see of a tornado from the ground. Share where else in nature or technology
you see this action.
- Sink draining, toilet flushing, whirlpool
• Go online, read and summarize one article about measuring wind force, or Doppler radar, or tornado safety.
- List the website here:
_______________________________________________________________.
Tornado Tube Demonstration (continued)
