Armed
with a 2-liter plastic soda bottle, matches, and some hot water, graduate
student Rachel Kirpes and undergraduate Anna Leemon set off to wow some local children
about cloud formation during the Annual Ann Arbor Earth Day Festival last
Sunday, the 17th. The kids quickly learned that adding water to the
bottle and shaking it was not enough to form a cloud. After adding particles in the form of smoke, a
cloud easily formed. How cool?! One spectacularly interested youngster even
wanted to take the cloud home. Rachel
and Anna also talked about clouds’ dual effects of both cooling the planet (by
reflecting sunlight) and warming it (by insulating earth’s heat). What a great
day!
Anna