Hurricane Swirl

Materials

• water
• shallow pan
• cornstarch
• food coloring
• spoon
• paper and pencil (optional)

A hurricane is a huge storm over the ocean that has winds and clouds swirling around its calm center. In this activity students will model the shape and pattern of those winds and clouds using water instead of air.

Directions

1. Stir in a few spoonfuls of cornstarch into the pan of water.  The amount doesn't have to be exact, it just needs to look milky.
2. When the water is more or less still, add one or two drops of food coloring into the middle of the pan. Observe the color's movement and pattern for a few minutes. Draw what you see.
3. Pull the spoon very slowly through the water. What follows in the wake of the spoon? (spirals) Draw what you see.
4. erase the color completely mixing it in and let the water settle.  Then add two or three more drops of the food coloring in the center.
5. This time try to use the handle of the spoon to make a circle around the drops.  Is what happens different? (A spiral is created inside the path of the spoon handle) Draw your observations.
6. Which would be more like a wider band of wind, the handle or round part of the spoon? (round) how did the speed of the moving spoon affect it?

Read The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole (Scholastic, 1995)


*Source http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/wild-weather-hurricanes-extension-activities