Ms. Eldridge Visits on Monday and Wednesday

Lots of things to update this weekend. On our first week back from vacation, we were lucky enough to have Ms. Patsy Eldridge join us for our kick-off for the weather unit that we will be concentrating on for the next few weeks. As usual, Ms. Eldridge both entertained and was extremely informative as the students learned about the interaction of cold and warm masses, or convection.

On Monday, the class was outside in the 40 degree temperatures. Since the activity included smoke from incense, we couldn't complete this activity inside without setting off the sprinkler system. That probably wouldn't have gone over too well with the administration. We were able to observe how air of contrasting temperatures moves by following the movement of the smoke. As candles warmed the air in our plastic boxes we were able to see the smoke get dragged over to the chimney directly over the flames and the warm air was then replaced by the cooler air from outside. It was a real eye-opener.

 

 

On Wednesday, we were inside in the warmth of the Science Lab as we again observed what happens when two masses with contrasting contrasting temperatures meet. This time, rather than air, we used water, and the result was even more powerful. We placed warm water with red food coloring and cold water with blue food coloring in a tank that contained room temperature water. We were able to observe how the warm red water rose to the top of the tank because it was less dense and the blue colder water, because it was more dense, sank to the bottom of the tank. This was really a great demonstrating of what happens when cold and warm air masses meet.

Unfortunately, this was our last experience with Ms. Eldridge for the year. As always, she was an incredibly important part of our Science curriculum and hopefully she can continue to visit Proctor for many more years. Both the students ans the teachers learn an incredible amount from her.