This year we decided to celebrate Earth Day by exploring the properties of the oceans. Could you imagine living on the moon where there is no ocean to regulate the surface temperature? It is a blistering 200°F during a lunar day! (And I thought it was hot here in Texas!)
This experiment shows us how the Earth’s temperature is regulated by the amazing property of water called heat capacity or the ability of water to hold heat.
What you need: adult supervision, two balloons, water, candle, match, and a lemonade Girl Scout cookie 😉
How you do it:
- First fill a balloon with air and hold it to the flame of a candle.
- Record the amount of time it took for the balloon to pop.
- Next fill a balloon with water and hold it to a flame of a candle.
- Record the amount of time it took to pop. (Note: We only tried it for about a minute – technically you could hold it until the water boiled or the balloon eventually busted.)
(The video on the left is the balloon filled with air. The video on the right is the water balloon.)
What’s the science?
The balloon filled with air pops almost instantaneously while the water balloon doesn’t because of the heat capacity of water. Water holds over 4 times more heat than air. This allows the plastic of the water balloon to remain intact as the heat of the flame is absorbed by the water. The black soot that forms on the balloon is partly from the balloon and partly from the candle burning.
Isn’t our planet amazing? Thank goodness for the oceans! I hope you celebrate the amazing properties of Earth Day, April 22nd!
Here is another idea to explore the how the earth wobbles around the sun.
This experiment can also be found using a sandwich bag and water in one of my favorite science books here. This link is an affiliate Amazon link. Thank you for supporting the books I love!
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