196 Fairy Tales and Tall Tales: Supplemental Guide CA | Culminating Activities
Note: Make sure to follow your school’s policy in terms of bringing food
into the classroom.Pecos Bill’s Cyclone in a Bottle
Materials: two, empty, plastic soda bottles; water; tape
Fill one bottle 3/4 full with water. Tape the other bottle upside down on
top of the one with water in it. Make sure that the spouts are lined up.
Turn the bottles over so that the one with water is on top. See how the
water has a hard time going down. To make the water go down into the
other bottle, swirl the bottles in a circular motion really fast. Don’t shake
it up and down or it won’t work. The water should swirl into the bottom
bottle.
How it works: When you swirl the bottle, the water starts to move in a
circle. When the water moves fast enough, it pushes out against the
bottle and leaves a hole in the middle. There’s no water in the hole, only
air. The hole allows the air from the bottom bottle to come up to the top
bottle. When the air moves, there’s space in the bottom bottle, which
makes room for the water from the top to flow into the bottom.
Note: This sort of water movement, with the hole in the middle, is usually
called a whirlpool. A tornado, or cyclone, occurs in air, and a whirlpool
occurs in water, but this experiment makes it possible to see the
phenomenon.