Question to Explore

Why does it rain?

How do rain clouds work?

Materials

• Mason jar
• small cup
• Shaving cream
• water
• blue food coloring
• pipette

Procedure

1. Fill half the mason jar with water.
2. Pour shaving cream into the mason jar so it forms a cloud-like shape at the top.
3. Fill a small cup with water and add a few drops of blue food coloring.
4. Fill the pipette with the blue water. (This water represents the water droplets that have evaporated from the oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. and are now condensing in the cloud.)
5. Predict how many drops it will take to fill the cloud and begin to rain into the sky (represented by the water below).
6. Hold the pipette above the shaving cream cloud and drop one drop in at a time, counting how many drops it takes to fill the cloud until it starts to rain.