Weather Concept Map

Weather

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

I. Temperature

•You can tell the temperature by counting the clicks a cricket makes in 15 seconds and adding 37!

A. Celsius

B. Fahrenheit

II. Clouds

A. Cumulus

Clouds that appear to be convective to one another when they are formed in the sky. These clouds appear circular and are one of the 2 main types of clouds. Cumulus are puffy mid-level white clouds made of water and ice, usually associated with fair weather.

B. Stratus

Clouds that appear to be layered when they are formed in the sky. This is one of the 2 main types of clouds. These consist of water droplets and cover most of the sky with an even, gray color similar to a fog, which can signal light rain.

III. Wind

http://www.kids.esdb.bg/wind.html

A. Heats up the earths surface

Sun heats up the air, which produces wind that heats mostly the air closest to the earth's surface.

B. Makes Electricity

1. Wind Turbine

Best way to produce energy using the wind. It is made of propellers and attached to a tall tower. Just one can create enough energy for a single house. They are good because they are pollution free but some people find their loud noise unappealing.

2. Wind Pumps

A windmill that pumps water into various sources. It can be used to create clean water for drinking or to irrigate farm land. 

IV. Air

A. Stratosphere

15 km 50 km above the earth. This is where jet planes fly and there is no way to breathe here. That is why jets are sealed closed and filled with air so that passengers can breathe.

B.  Troposphere

The lower layer of the atmosphere and is 15 km high. This is where the clouds are formed and it is very difficult to breathe here because the air is so thin. Example- the top of Mount Everest.

V. Rain

A. Fun Facts

There is so much water in the air that if it all fell as rain at the same time, it could fill enough buckets to reach from the earth to the sun 57 million times!

•One inch of rain over one square mile equals to 17.4 million gallons of water.

The weight of one inch of water over one square mile equals over 145 million pounds.

B. How Forms

Water droplets form from warm air. As the warm air rises in the sky it cools. Water vapor (invisible water in the air) always exists in our air. Warm air holds quite a bit of water. When enough of these droplets collect together, we see them as clouds. If the clouds are big enough and have enough water droplets, the droplets bang together and form even bigger drops. When the drops get heavy, they fall because of gravity, and you see and feel rain. Since its often hot and humid in the summertime, it rains more then.