A new year, a new decade, (and the year I turn 40 😱) had me researching clocks for our New Year science experiment. I stumbled upon how ancient people as early as 1500 BC used moving water to tell time and to be honest, it made me not feel so old. 🙌
You can make your own waterclock and use it as a 2020 countdown clock for the kids this New Year’s Eve.
What you need: an empty water bottle, an empty plastic cup, a timer, a serrated knife, a pick, a permanent marker, water, and food coloring
How you do it:
- Cut a plastic bottle in half
- Take the cap off and make a small hole with a pick
- Screw the cap back and place the top half of the bottle upside down in the bottom half
- Add food coloring to a cup of water
- Pour water in the top and mark the fill line (this is important for clock accuracy)
- Use a timer to quickly mark on the bottom half when the water level reaches every 10 seconds up to 60 seconds
- Repeat the fill process and shout “Happy New Year” as the level reaches the end!
What’s the science:
A waterclock operates on water pressure. The speed of the water dripping is affected by the height of the water column in the top container. The higher the column of water the faster the water will drip.
This is why it is important to not spill the water between countdowns or it will make the waterclock less accurate. This is also why we decided to add a fill line.
We even talked about how to make a clock that would tell time over a hour and decided we needed a longer bottle and more water.
We hope you enjoy making your own countdown waterclock for this epic 2020 New Year!
Check out our past New Year experiments here and Happy 2020!🎉
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