Hey Ray! Creating A Cloud In A Bottle
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- KDKA Meteorologist Ray Petelin is back with another home science experiment, here to show you how to create a cloud in a bottle.
Equipment Needed:
- Bicycle Pump
- Safety Glasses
- Rubber Stopper that fits a bottle
- Valve Stem For Tubeless Tire (Easily found at an auto parts store)
- Bottle (Safest/Cheapest to use a 2 Liter Plastic Bottle for this experiment)
- Rubbing Alcohol
SET UP:
- Put on safety glasses
- Drill a hole in the rubber stopper, so the valve stem can snugly fit inside.
- Fit valve stem inside stopper, then connect to bicycle pump, as if you were going to pump up a tire.
- Fill bottom of bottle with rubbing alcohol, then swirl it around.
- Put rubber stopper on bottle, and pump several times (10 is usually good)
- WARNING: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE! The stopper can easily fly out of the bottle top. Make sure to hold onto it firmly.
- Remember, running alcohol is flammable. Performing this experiment should be done away from a flame and in a static-free environment. During the colder months, static is very common.
- Remove stopper from bottle top and watch cloud instantly form
Rubbing alcohol easily evaporates, just like water being heated. When you swirl it in the bottle, it begins to more quickly evaporate, and the molecules rise.
When you add pressure to the bottle, with the pump, you are actually compressing the molecules creating a drying effect, or "clear skies", just like high pressure, when it comes to weather.
Now, when the rubber stopper is removed, the pressure drops, instantly causing the evaporated rubbing alcohol to condense, creating a cloud in the bottle.
While the cloud is present in the bottle, place the rubber stopper back on the bottle and pump the bicycle pump, and watch what happens.
You should notice the cloud disappear.
This is because you are compressing the molecules again, clearing the cloud. Once you remove the rubber stopper, the cloud will instantly reappear.
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