TORNADO

Have you ever seen a tornado? Even if you never visit the area in the Midwest called Tornado Alley, you can create your very own tornado. It’s completely safe. You can do this fun STEM* experiment right at home or in your classroom.

ALL YOU NEED ARE:

OPTIONAL BUT WAY MORE FUN!

Are you ready? Good! Then let's get started.

Follow these easy instructions and in a few minutes, you will be able to create your own tornado.

Step 1

Fill the jar mostly full of water. (Be sure to leave a little room at the top.)

Step 2

Add a teaspoon of vinegar and 2 drops of liquid soap to the water.

Step 3

Sprinkle a tiny bit of glitter of any color to the top of the water. (Optional, but we recommend blue!)

STEP 4

Close the lid tightly. (Double check this. It’s very important!)

Step 5

Shake the jar using a circular motion. Then hold your jar still and watch the water spin into a tornado.

Did you see it? Try it again and again and again.

Tornadoes can occur over oceans and lakes too. But instead of dirt and debris, these tornadoes pick up water. This is called a waterspout.

Earthquakes don’t just occur on land. Many of those tectonic plates are in the ocean. If an underwater earthquake is large enough, it creates a swell in the water. When that wave hits land, it’s called a tsunami.

Tsunami is Japanese for “wave.” It’s the same thing that happens when you throw a stone into a pond. It splashes, right? Then, the water ripples across the top.

That’s what happens when the earth shifts underwater. It creates a large ripple. When the water moves towards land, the wave becomes larger.

And, just like waves, the tsunami moves in and out of the land again and again. Except, these waves are much larger. They cause more damage than regular waves. But they eventually return to normal size.

When geologists detect an earthquake under the ocean, they post a warning that a tsunami might hit. This gives people time to go to a safe place.

Tsunamis can move faster than a jet airplane—over 500 miles per hour!

He called the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.

PSALM 107:29