How to Create a Thunderstorm Model

If you have noticed how it always seems to get cooler when a thunderstorm arrives, you already have half the equation of what makes a storm. It is called convection. When a cold front moves in and forces unstable warm air rapidly up into the atmosphere, the warm air causes moisture in the cooler upper air to condense and form raindrops, which then fall to earth. Convection is when large air masses move rapidly in a vertical direction. You can use a series of pictures and charts to model a thunderstorm -- or you can make a model that demonstrates the principles that create it.

Things You'll Need

• Ice tray
• Blue food color
• Clear plastic container, about the size of a shoebox
• Water
• Red food color
• Index cards
• Red and blue colored pencils

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Fill an ice tray with water, placing one drop of blue food color in each cube. Place the ice tray in the freezer until you have solid cubes of blue ice.

   • 2

     Fill the plastic container 2/3 full of lukewarm water. Let the container sit until the water is completely still.

   • 3

     Place one blue ice cube at one end of the plastic container. Then put two drops of red food color at the opposite end of the container.

   • 4

     Use the red and blue pencils to draw what you see happen with the blue and red food color in the water.