Science Fair - Tornado Alley

Each year we participate in our local homeschool group's Science Fair.  This year was no exception.  Noodle wanted to do a project about Tornadoes.  I thought we'd do a tornado in a bottle, so I showed him some You Tube videos and excitedly said, "Won't that be cool?"  He was less than impressed and declared, "Mom, I am going to make a real tornado."  Uh, OK.  I tried telling him we wouldn't be able to whip one up for the science fair. He told me we were going to make a little one.  Uh, OK. 

I was thinking we'd have to do another project since the standard tornado in a bottle wasn't doing it for him. But then I got to thinking.....could we "make a tornado?"  So, I went to where I always go when I need information and inspiration - the Internet!  Lo and behold, I found out how Noodle could make a Tornado Simulator. It was the closest we were going to get to making a tornado.  I printed out the instructions and it was six pages.  Uh-oh. 

I enlisted the help of my mother's husband (well, Fiance at the time of this writing - they are getting married in a few days).  J (is what we call him) began helping Noodle with the construction and they had a few math lessons along the way.  Noodle didn't do any of the cutting because we wanted minimal damage to my table and his person.

First a look behind the scenes:

After cutting out the panels, we made windows using cellophane (the gift basket type), then duct taped it together and finally painted it.

Painting the chamber for the tornado.

Boiling water for the first test run!

Holy Tornado - it works!

Bear took video - he was pretty impressed. We were pretty impressed with ourselves, and my husband sounds a little jealous doesn't he??

After we confirmed the Tornado Simulator worked, Noodle started work on his display board.  He learned about the different types of tornadoes, tornado alley, the Fujita Scale and how to stay safe in the event of a tornado.

The Main Event - Science Fair Night


Noodle competed in the 2nd- 4th grade category.  He placed second.  Yay Noodle!!  This is his third 2nd place win along with one tie for 1st place in last year's fair. I am so proud of him because I know with the exception of cutting out the chamber he physically did most of the work.  He did everything in his own handwriting, he asked me how to spell words so he wouldn't have any misspelled words, but that is basically like using spell check right? He did have help from me and J with the duct tape and cellophane windows because his hands are too little to do it all by himself and have it be functional.  He painted it by himself.  He did all the cutting and pasting on his display board and asked me for guidance on placement, but he ultimately decided where to glue stuff.

Noodle and Great Grammy

Project Board

Tornado!

Tornado Alley sign.

Here is some video taken at the fair.

2nd Place