Making Clouds in a Jar

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A couple weekends ago science broke out in our kitchen. Because Austin was reading and got curious which is how all learning takes place right? We then went to YouTube, and then started  a science experiment in our kitchen. One question Austin asked how clouds are made. We went about making clouds in a jar, very similar to how we made rain in a jar, to answer her question.

This is really simple to do.

Making Clouds in a Jar

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You need a jar. Some hot (boiling works best) water, a plate that will fit snug on top of your jar, hair spray in an aerosol can, and some ice cubes.

Put your ice cubes on the plate. About 4 or so, we used massive ice cubes meant for whiskey.

Fill your jar about a third of the way up with hot water.

Spray a quick blast of an aerosol hairspray into the jar and very quickly put your plate on top of the jar.

What’s happening:

By pouring hot water into a jar and trapping it, you created warm, moist air.  As the warm air inside the jar rose, it was cooled by the ice on top of the jar.

When the water vapour cooled, it wanted to turn back into liquid, but it needed to condense onto a surface. The aerosol spray provided cloud condensation nuclei: a surface for the water vapour to condense into tiny cloud droplets.

The cloud swirled inside the jar due to the circulation of warm air rising and cold air sinking. I shared this quick video on Instagram after did it.

If you try this out at home I would love to see how it goes for you and what your kids think of it.

Similar posts that you may also be interested in:

Making Rain in a Jar

Weather in a Jar: Tornado