It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, the Kids are Enjoying!
July 15, 2025On Tuesday, July 15th, we returned back to the Wardlaw-Hartridge School, to make a rain cloud in a jar!
Again, we did a live demonstration! Students were so excited to see the “science show” for the third time with a new experiment! They connected a recent weather event to today’s experiment!
Here’s what the students learned:
Clouds and Precipitation: Students learned how clouds hold moisture in the air. In our experiment, we used shaving cream to represent clouds, and colored water to represent moisture in the air. When the “clouds” got too full, the colored water fell through, just like rain! Students also connected this experiment to the overall water cycle, especially the concepts of condensation and precipitation.
Density and Saturation: The colored water was denser than the shaving cream, so it slowly sank through once the “cloud” became saturated. This helped students visualize how rain forms when water droplets in real clouds become too heavy to stay suspended in the sky.
The students were so excited to see the colorful rain, and some even wished it rained purple rain (pun intended) in real life! They were ready to try out this experiment at home, and the smiles on their faces were worth it. They were really curious as well, asking questions like, “Does it matter how many drops of food dye are in the shaving cream?”, “Does the amount of water matter?”, and “Why does shaving cream float on top of the water?” One kid even said to me, “I’m going to try this at home with my mom!” This enthusiasm inspires us to keep hosting sessions!
Stay tuned for more experiments, and if you want to be a part of ChemZoo, sign up to be a chapter director or a volunteer in your state. ChemZoo is all about making science accessible and fun, because our generation needs more scientists.
