Lesson 2: Cloud in a Bottle
Grade Level: 6-12
Estimated Time for Activity: 90 minutes
Learning Outcomes and NGSS
Climate Engineering Teaching Module
Expected Learning Outcome
Content Knowledge
- Students will learn about one climate engineering technology (Marine Cloud Brightening) researched currently.
- Students will learn how a cloud is formed and how a cloud’s components can be modified to change its brightness (reflectance).
Skills
- Students will exercise the scientific method through developing hypotheses, running experiments, collecting data, interpreting the data, and drawing conclusions.
NGSS
MS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
MS-ETS1-4 Engineering Design. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
HS-ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
HS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
Tutorials for Cloud in a Bottle
Description of the video:
00:00:02:03 - 00:00:29:22Unknown
Okay. So in this video we're going to run the high aerosol experiment for the cloud. And a bottle breaking experiment. again, just like the last video for the low aerosol, experiment, I'm going to run through kind of how a how it's how progresses when we're going to take measurements that way. when we're actually making the cloud, you'll, you'll be able to follow along much, much more easily because it does progress kind of rapidly.
00:00:29:24 - 00:00:55:29
Unknown
So the first thing we're going to do is add a half an ounce of water to our plastic bottle. Just kind of swish it around so that the moisture, touches on the interior surface of the bottle. Then with the high aerosol, experiment, we're going to spray hairspray in ten times and then quickly tap with the. With the valve and rubber stopper, plug.
00:00:56:02 - 00:01:21:28
Unknown
So again, what I like to do is have the hand pump already attached securely to the rubber stopper. but that way it helps with capping as well as pulling off the stopper. for us, for this hand pump, 15 pumps, four pumps. Gets the bottle highly pressurized. and will help create that cloud when you pull the plug.
00:01:22:00 - 00:01:47:05
Unknown
If you use a different hand pump, I would recommend, kind of trying out, how many pumps it will take to get the, to get the crowd, the cloud to form and to have a pressurized bottle. you certainly want to proceed with caution as you do that. Okay, so once we have a cap, we have the aerosols and we have the water in and we have a cap, we have a pressurized, we're going to move it into its location.
00:01:47:07 - 00:02:11:17
Unknown
you know, five inches in front of the light meter, the lux meter, and then pull the plug. And when you once you pull the plug, you're going to see a cloud. And right away you want to be recording with that. recording with that lux meter, reading this because the cloud will soon dissipate after that. And we're going to leave the bottle in place until the cloud complete dissipates.
00:02:11:19 - 00:02:37:22
Unknown
and there's no vapor cloud inside of the bottle anymore. That's. So we can then get a recording of the lux meter reflectance off the bottle, without the cloud in it. And so, you know, there's still be some water in the bottom, but that won't impact the reflectance. But what will impact the reflectance is some of the hairspray that we sprayed in that didn't go into making the cloud will be attached to the interior surface.
00:02:37:24 - 00:02:58:16
Unknown
So we want to be able to, to eliminate that effect. Okay. So we will go ahead and start by adding our half half an ounce of water. This again is just room temperature water.
00:02:58:19 - 00:03:02:26
Unknown
Add it to the bottle.
00:03:02:28 - 00:03:18:09
Unknown
And then again just move it around so that it touches the interior surface of your bottle. And then we're going to have ten sprays of hairspray.
00:03:18:11 - 00:03:23:13
Unknown
And then quickly cap.
00:03:23:15 - 00:03:41:23
Unknown
Now we're going to proceed with the 15 pumps. And then I'll move it into position. And soon after that we'll pull the plug and make the cloud.
00:03:41:26 - 00:03:56:22
Unknown
Okay. Let's meter on and. Here's the plan. We'll step back so we can get a recording.
00:03:56:24 - 00:04:05:04
Unknown
It's about 25, 26. Perhaps. So let's write that down.
00:04:05:06 - 00:04:27:10
Unknown
And wait for the cloud to disappear. So you can see it slowly moving around the air. And it'll slowly dissipate at the top. It does take, you know, a minute or two for this to happen. So if you want to proceed to the next trial, you can just make sure that you mark down, maybe put a, put in the number of the trial underneath the bottle.
00:04:27:12 - 00:04:43:09
Unknown
that way you can link up both the, the lux meter reading with the cloud and then the bottle without the cloud reading. Spoke to you. Let this come out.
00:04:43:11 - 00:05:16:21
Unknown
It's looking pretty good. Let me just take a little inspection. Yeah. So it looks like the cloud has come out. So we're going to take her hand away and then see what the final reading is, which is about 15, 15 or 16. Cloud 16. Okay. So what this demonstrates is the cloud. The reading when the cloud first formed was 25 lux.
00:05:16:23 - 00:05:41:10
Unknown
And then after the cloud dissipated and we took three and again we are at 16. So that's about a nine lux difference. Okay. That was caused by the cloud. So in this experiment, the high aerosol experiment, the lux chain or the the lux due to the cloud was nine and the low aerosol experiment, the lux change was due to the cloud was six.
00:05:41:12 - 00:06:14:18
Unknown
So they might not be large numbers. But between going from 6 to 9 is quite a significant, increase in percentage wise. It's about, you know, half, half more than six would be up to nine. So run these trials, for both the high and low at least four times, up to ten times. You should have plenty of data, and you'll be able to compare the average lux to 30 lux reflectance due to the cloud from the low aerosol experiment versus the high aerosol experiment.
00:06:14:26 - 00:06:42:06
Unknown
And you should see, a difference between those two. And then with the Excel page that I provided, you then calculate some statistics such as standard deviation and even, if you want to challenge your students with a t test, you can demonstrate, how we can calculate whether or not the change between the low aerosol experiment, the higher Sol experiment is statistically significant.
Description of the video:
00:00:02:03 - 00:00:29:22Unknown
Okay. So in this video we're going to run the high aerosol experiment for the cloud. And a bottle breaking experiment. again, just like the last video for the low aerosol, experiment, I'm going to run through kind of how a how it's how progresses when we're going to take measurements that way. when we're actually making the cloud, you'll, you'll be able to follow along much, much more easily because it does progress kind of rapidly.
00:00:29:24 - 00:00:55:29
Unknown
So the first thing we're going to do is add a half an ounce of water to our plastic bottle. Just kind of swish it around so that the moisture, touches on the interior surface of the bottle. Then with the high aerosol, experiment, we're going to spray hairspray in ten times and then quickly tap with the. With the valve and rubber stopper, plug.
00:00:56:02 - 00:01:21:28
Unknown
So again, what I like to do is have the hand pump already attached securely to the rubber stopper. but that way it helps with capping as well as pulling off the stopper. for us, for this hand pump, 15 pumps, four pumps. Gets the bottle highly pressurized. and will help create that cloud when you pull the plug.
00:01:22:00 - 00:01:47:05
Unknown
If you use a different hand pump, I would recommend, kind of trying out, how many pumps it will take to get the, to get the crowd, the cloud to form and to have a pressurized bottle. you certainly want to proceed with caution as you do that. Okay, so once we have a cap, we have the aerosols and we have the water in and we have a cap, we have a pressurized, we're going to move it into its location.
00:01:47:07 - 00:02:11:17
Unknown
you know, five inches in front of the light meter, the lux meter, and then pull the plug. And when you once you pull the plug, you're going to see a cloud. And right away you want to be recording with that. recording with that lux meter, reading this because the cloud will soon dissipate after that. And we're going to leave the bottle in place until the cloud complete dissipates.
00:02:11:19 - 00:02:37:22
Unknown
and there's no vapor cloud inside of the bottle anymore. That's. So we can then get a recording of the lux meter reflectance off the bottle, without the cloud in it. And so, you know, there's still be some water in the bottom, but that won't impact the reflectance. But what will impact the reflectance is some of the hairspray that we sprayed in that didn't go into making the cloud will be attached to the interior surface.
00:02:37:24 - 00:02:58:16
Unknown
So we want to be able to, to eliminate that effect. Okay. So we will go ahead and start by adding our half half an ounce of water. This again is just room temperature water.
00:02:58:19 - 00:03:02:26
Unknown
Add it to the bottle.
00:03:02:28 - 00:03:18:09
Unknown
And then again just move it around so that it touches the interior surface of your bottle. And then we're going to have ten sprays of hairspray.
00:03:18:11 - 00:03:23:13
Unknown
And then quickly cap.
00:03:23:15 - 00:03:41:23
Unknown
Now we're going to proceed with the 15 pumps. And then I'll move it into position. And soon after that we'll pull the plug and make the cloud.
00:03:41:26 - 00:03:56:22
Unknown
Okay. Let's meter on and. Here's the plan. We'll step back so we can get a recording.
00:03:56:24 - 00:04:05:04
Unknown
It's about 25, 26. Perhaps. So let's write that down.
00:04:05:06 - 00:04:27:10
Unknown
And wait for the cloud to disappear. So you can see it slowly moving around the air. And it'll slowly dissipate at the top. It does take, you know, a minute or two for this to happen. So if you want to proceed to the next trial, you can just make sure that you mark down, maybe put a, put in the number of the trial underneath the bottle.
00:04:27:12 - 00:04:43:09
Unknown
that way you can link up both the, the lux meter reading with the cloud and then the bottle without the cloud reading. Spoke to you. Let this come out.
00:04:43:11 - 00:05:16:21
Unknown
It's looking pretty good. Let me just take a little inspection. Yeah. So it looks like the cloud has come out. So we're going to take her hand away and then see what the final reading is, which is about 15, 15 or 16. Cloud 16. Okay. So what this demonstrates is the cloud. The reading when the cloud first formed was 25 lux.
00:05:16:23 - 00:05:41:10
Unknown
And then after the cloud dissipated and we took three and again we are at 16. So that's about a nine lux difference. Okay. That was caused by the cloud. So in this experiment, the high aerosol experiment, the lux chain or the the lux due to the cloud was nine and the low aerosol experiment, the lux change was due to the cloud was six.
00:05:41:12 - 00:06:14:18
Unknown
So they might not be large numbers. But between going from 6 to 9 is quite a significant, increase in percentage wise. It's about, you know, half, half more than six would be up to nine. So run these trials, for both the high and low at least four times, up to ten times. You should have plenty of data, and you'll be able to compare the average lux to 30 lux reflectance due to the cloud from the low aerosol experiment versus the high aerosol experiment.
00:06:14:26 - 00:06:42:06
Unknown
And you should see, a difference between those two. And then with the Excel page that I provided, you then calculate some statistics such as standard deviation and even, if you want to challenge your students with a t test, you can demonstrate, how we can calculate whether or not the change between the low aerosol experiment, the higher Sol experiment is statistically significant.