Education

Clouds are made of water- In order for the liquid water on earth to turn into clouds, it has to first become a gas known as water vapor. (A process called evaporation). To form clouds, the water vapor has to collect, or condense, into tiny droplets of water (A process called condensation) In order for the water vapor to condense, it needs something to condense onto, like dust or smoke or hairspray, in our case.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School

Time Required and Difficulty : 5 minutes — most of that time is waiting for the water from the sink to get hot! This is an east activity, adult supervision required for the hot water and using a match.

• Glass Jar with a Lid (we used a pint mason jar)
• 1 cup Hot Boiling Water
• Blue Food Coloring (optional)
• Aerosol Hairspray
• 3-5 cubes of Ice

Instructions:

1. Pour 1 cup of hot boiling water into a glass jar (Helpful Tip: Use food coloring to dye the water blue before pouring it into the jar) not required, but does help distinguish the cloud from the water. Plus, it makes the water look like the sky.
2. Quickly spray hairspray into the jar.
3. Immediately put the lid onto the jar. Helpful Tip: This step must be performed quickly, so have the lid handy. It also helps to have multiple people doing the experiment. One to spray the hairspray and one to put on the lid.
4. Place a 3-5 pieces of ice on top of the lid of the jar.
5. Watch the top of the jar carefully and you will see a cloud begin to form.
6. After observing the cloud in the jar, remove the lid and watch the cloud escape out of the jar.