MODEL OF A HURRICANE

KEY CONCEPTS

  1. Hurricanes are the most powerful of all storms.
  2. Hurricanes form over tropical seas that have sea surface temperatures above 27° Celsius.
  3. They do not form at the equator because at 0° latitude the Coriolis Effect does not provide enough spin to initiate hurricane conditions.
  4. They do not form beneath atmospheric jet streams.
  5. Once they have formed, they travel away from the equator, remaining over warm water as they grow in intensity.
  6. As they reach land or cool water, hurricanes dissipate.
 

MATERIALS

  • food coloring
  • large glass bowl
  • pitcher of warm water
  • eye dropper
  • large spoon
  • field journal
  • optional: QuickCam camera
  • optional: Macintosh computer with Morph Program
  • optional: QuickTime viewer animation to see "Coriolis Effect" movie
 
 

PROCEDURE

  
 
 

Activity

  1. Place the warm water into the bowl.
  2. Carefully stir the water until it is moving in a circular motion around the edges of the bowl.
  3. Once you have created a swirling body of water, carefully add a few drops of food coloring in the center of the bowl.
  4. Make a drawing in journal or use the QuickCam to take an image of the beginning hurricane.
  5. Observe the water surface as the food coloring moves out toward the edge of the bowl.
  6. Make a drawing of the movement of coloring or use the QuickCam to take a picture. Be sure to make thorough observations of the movement of the food coloring.
  7. Continue to add drops of food coloring to the bowl.
  8. Make a drawing of the bowl after at one and two minute intervals. If you have a QuickCam take a picture at the one minute intervals Be sure to include all movements of food coloring to your drawing or picture
 
 

Footnote

  • Give the students an opportunity to utilize raw data collected. By making a time lapse movie students can track the actual formation of the hurricane. This is a good activity to use for making a simple time lapse movie.
  
 

Assessment Ideas

  • Use a computer morphing program to make a time lapse movie of the hurricane formation. Use the beginning image of the waters surface as the start image and each interval as end images.
 
 
 

CROSS-CURRICULAR IDEAS

  • Social Sciences: Have students research what it would be like to experience a hurricane.
  • Mathematics: Have students monitor the speed of the "bowl hurricane."
  • Fine Arts: Use colored warm water to create color bands and make a drawing of the way that various color combinations (yellow-blue or orange yellow) blend.
 
 

VOCABULARY

  • Coriolis Effect: occurs in both hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, motion is deflected to the right from its initial path; in the Southern Hemisphere motion is deflected to the left of its initial path.
  • hurricane: powerful large storms that can form over ocean waters with surface temperature above 27° Celsius.
  • jet stream: a high-speed river of air found in the middle and upper portions of the troposphere (atmospheric layer located between 4 and 10 miles altitude).
  
 

SOURCE

  • Adapted from "Winds of Change" educational CD-ROM, Copyright Caltech and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory