Tornado in a Glass

• water

• liquid dish soap

• chunky glitter (optional)

TOOLS

• a tall glass or jar (lid is good but optional)

• a stirrer (if there is no lid, you can use pencil, chopstick, straw or an actual stirrer to stir)

• adult supervision

1. Fill the glass with three-quarters of water.

2. Put a few drops of dish soap into the water.

3. With one hand holding the glass, use the other hand to stir the water quickly in a circular motion until a vortex or column of spinning bubbles is formed.

4. If you prefer to use a lid, cover the jar tightly and rotate the jar in circles using your wrist.

5. Then remove the stirrer, or put down the jar, and observe.

6. Add chunky glitter to see how the water current moves inside the glass (optional).

When you stir or spin the water, a vortex is created in the center, similar to the vortex in tornadoes.

In a vortex, the water swirling on the outside has to move faster than the water on the inside to keep up.

This is why in a hurricane, strong winds are felt far away from the center but the center itself (eye) is calm.