Blue sky experiment
| Students profile/age of the student: | 8 -12 years old |
| Connected subject in the curriculum | Science |
| Skills and competencies to be developed | critical thinking, content knowledge, teamwork, listening skills, |
| Terminology, keywords | Sky, sunset, sunrise |
| Teaching techniques and tools: | storytelling, warm-up activities, brainstorming, case study… |
| Materials needed: | – flashlight, – 2-liter pop bottle, – milk, – water |
| Materials offered | Additional links: http://stem-works.com/external/activity/437 |
| The time needed for the activity | approx 20 minutes |
Description
Story:
Just like in the atmosphere, the mixture scatters more of the blue wavelength than any other colon. ’ why the sky is blue! At sunrise or at sunset, there is even more scattering taking place due to the angle of the sun. This causes the reds and oranges to scatter into our atmosphere.
That’s why our sunsets and sunrises are so colorful!
- Fill the 2-liter bottle three-fourths full of water and prop up the flashlight, so it will shine through the bottle from the side.
- Add a teaspoon of milk to the water.
- Put the cap on the bottle and shake to mix up the water and milk.
- What do you see? Keep adding milk until you start to see a blue light that is scattered to your eyes from the mixture.
- Once you see the blue light, add more milk to the mixture until you see more orange or red light.
Blue sky experiment