Abstract

Here's a good way to get yourself on TV! This science fair project will help you learn how to predict the weather. So who knows, maybe you'll be more accurate than your local meteorologist. You just might get hired! (Someday.)

Objective

The objective of this experiment is to find the most accurate way to predict the weather without using advanced technology, like satellites and computers. The two methods compared are the scientific (using homemade instruments) and the traditional (using observations of nature) methods.

Introduction

  Weather Science Project kite
 Figure 1. Kite for meteorological observations.

Predicting the weather has become a science in itself. Through the use of satellite images and a variety of data-collection tools, we can now develop fairly accurate predictions of our weather patterns. Before the development of these more-advanced techniques, people used basic tools and/or stories and sayings to capture nature's signals of changes in weather, such as:

  • Bad weather is coming when the cows lie down.
  • Good weather is coming when the bees are busier than usual.
  • Bad weather is coming when your bones or joints ache.

Watch DragonflyTV forecasting video
Click here to watch a video of this investigation, produced by DragonflyTV and presented by pbskidsgo.org


If you want to see how well this and other folklore predicts the weather, join Mari and Lindsay in the DragonflyTV video on the right as they watch the sky, make a homemade barometer, and put cows, bees, bones, and hair to the test for nine days, to see if natural signals can tell you what the weather is going to be like the next day. Which is more effective as a tool for prediction: our homemade instruments or nature's indicators?

Terms, Concepts, and Questions to Start Background Research

In order to properly conduct this science fair project, you will need to learn the basics about weather. What is weather and what are the major factors that cause our weather to change?

Some key terms to understand:

  • Atmospheric pressure (also known as barometric pressure)
  • Relative humidity
  • Dew point
  • Air temperature and how it varies relative to atmospheric pressure
  • Wind speed

Since you will also be constructing some homemade instruments to help you capture data, you will need to understand how each of the following instruments works:

  • Hygrometer
  • Barometer
  • Weather vane

Bibliography

Basics of weather:

Glossary of weather terms:

Some sites that discuss weather lore:

How to build your own weather instruments:

Materials and Equipment

Materials image
  • Homemade weather instruments (see links above for specific instructions and materials required to build each of these instruments):
    • Barometer
    • Hygrometer
    • Weather Vane
  • Weather Lore:
    • To measure general weather observe: "Red sky at night, sailor's delight; Red sky in morning, sailor take warning."
    • To measure humidity observe: "A ring around the moon or sun, and rain approaches on the run."
    • To measure barometric pressure observe: "Sea gull, sea gull, sit on the sand, It's never good weather while you're on the land."
    • To measure wind direction observe: blowing smoke or leaves.
  • Weather data chart
  • Pen

Experimental Procedure

For the scientific method:

  • Build each of the instruments you will use to capture your weather data.
  • Collect data in your weather data chart twice daily (morning and evening).
  • Based on the collected data, make morning and evening predictions about the oncoming weather and record these in our weather data chart.
  • Compare each of your predictions to the control.

For the traditional (weather lore) technique:

  • Observe "nature's signals" and collect data in your weather data chart twice daily (morning and evening).
  • Based on the collected data, make morning and evening predictions about the oncoming weather and record these in our weather data chart.
  • Compare each of your predictions to the control.

Control:

  • Use the weather prediction in your local paper (or an online source, such as Unisys Weather, listed in the Bibliography) as the control and compare each of your predictions to the local paper. Make sure that you make your own predictions before reading the paper! ;-)

Variations


Last edit date: 2009-04-29 12:00:00

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Related Links

  • Science Fair Project Guide

Project Summary

Difficulty  7 
Time required Average (about one week)
Prerequisites None
Material Availability Readily available
Cost Low ($20 - $50)
Safety No issues


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Career Focus

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring related careers.

Meterologist
The atmosphere is a blanket of gases, surrounding Earth, that creates our weather. Meteorologists study the measurements and motion of the atmosphere, and changing events within it, so that they can predict the weather. This weather forecasting helps the general public and people who work in industries such as shipping, air transportation, agriculture, fishing, forestry, and water and power better plan for the weather, and reduce human and economic losses.
  Mechanical Engineer
Mechanical engineers are part of your everyday life, designing the spoon you used to eat your breakfast, your breakfast's packaging, the flip-top cap on your toothpaste tube, the zipper on your jacket, the car, bike, or bus you took to school, the chair you sat in, the door handle you grasped and the hinges it opened on, and the ballpoint pen you used to take your test. Virtually every object that you see around you has passed through the hands of a mechanical engineer. Consequently, their skills are in demand to design millions of different products in almost every type of industry.




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