How to Make Rain in a Jar?3 min read

Introduction

This post is most likely for you if your child is interested in knowing about the weather. You might think of a plethora of projects to do with making their own weather station. Other activities that your children might enjoy are

1. A wind-precipitation and temperature-measuring instrument
2. Using simple data logs to track weather

Such activities will expand your child’s knowledge of weather by explaining how clouds and rain are formed from water vapour, air, and condensation.

Why does it rain in a jar?

Let’s try to figure out what’s going on in this process from a scientific standpoint. What began as a large white fluffy cloud on top of your jar became saturated with water droplets (blue food colouring). The larger water droplets plummeted to the bottom of the cloud as the cloud became heavier with more liquid and fell out of the cloud.

The air in the jar warms up as a result of the hot water. The cold plate causes the moisture in the air to condense, converting water vapour into liquid water and creating water droplets. When warm air in the lower atmosphere encounters colder air high in the atmosphere, water vapour in the air condenses and forms heavy rainfall (fall) that falls to the ground.

Materials for making rain in a jar

• Large, clear container
• Shaving cream
• Blue food colouring
• Water

Step 1: Add water to the container

Take a vessel. TRY to search for a vessel of around 1-quart broad range mason jar. Worry not if you don’t find any appropriate transparent glass or plastic bottle for this. You’ll want to almost completely fill the container (about an inch from the top). ** For a somewhat different impact, use warm or cold water.

Step 2: Fill the top of the container with shaving cream

Shake your styling cream can for a couple of seconds before spraying it into the top of your container. Spray the shaving cream clean into the container’s rest of the top inch. It’s fine if your shaving cream cloud is large enough to reach slightly above the brim of the container.

With your shaving foam, you’ve just made a fluffy and white (cumulus cloud).

Step 3: Add the rain (food colouring) to the cloud

Now let’s come to the fun part!! As you slowly add a few drops of blue artificial flavouring to the top of your cloud, you’ll be able to watch it in action. Remember to start with a few drops and observe as the blue begins to permeate the shaving cream cloud. If you want to speed up the process and make it more of a downpour than a light drizzle, add a little more food colouring.

Step 4: Wait for it to rain

How rapidly your rainfall develops will be determined by how much food colouring you apply to your cloud in phase 3. Keep a watch on the blue food colouring as it gently descends into the cloud. Bluewater molecules (food colouring) will eventually make their way to the cloud’s bottom and become heavy enough to fall out. As the blue raindrops fall through the transparent water in the container, the result is a thunderstorm in a bottle.

Variation: Warm or Cold Water?

This is the point where you can repeat the experiment with varying water temperatures. What do you think you’re seeing? Warm water is less thick than cold water, allowing the blue food colouring to diffuse more easily into the clear water.

The somewhat warmer raindrops tend to cling together more and not change the colour of the water as rapidly because the cold water is denser.