Earth Science Activities

Thunder & Lightning   demonstrates how to estimate how far away a lightning strike is, by counting the seconds until you 'hear' the thunder.  A timer starts when the lighting flashes and stops when the thunder says 'boom'.  The students divide the time by five to see how many miles away the lightning was.

Evaporation   illustrates water molecules transitioning from a liquid to a vapor.  The  water molecules move at different speeds, and the water temperature is a function of their average speed. The likelihood a molecule will transition to vapor is a function of its speed and the wind speed.  Evaporative cooling of the water is observed as the average speed of the molecules decreases. Students can adjust wind speed and record the time it takes the water to cool to a certain temperature.