What is water? TASK: Using the three worksheets investigate what is water.

Transcription

1 What is water? AGE RANGES: Key stage 2 TASK: Using the three worksheets investigate what is water. OBJECTIVES: Investigate how water behaves, rain is created and how the water cycle works. CURRICULUM FIT: Science, Geography Key Stage 2

2 Activity: Water s Wonderful. Learning objective: Start to think about water and how it behaves. Resources: Water s Wonderful Worksheet. Teacher talks about water, where we find it, what it s used for and how it behaves. In pairs the group complete the questions on the Water s Wonderful worksheet. After students have completed the worksheet, discuss how water behaves with less fixed boundaries, such as in rivers, in lakes and in oceans. The water is trying to do the same as in the fixed boundaries but on a much bigger scale. Activity: Rain Maker. Learning objective: Practical demonstration of precipitation, start to consider how water behaves on a larger scale. Resources: See Rain Maker worksheet. Place the class into small groups to follow the instructions on the Rain Maker worksheet. Students must always be supervised when carrying out an experiment. Activity: The Water Cycle Learning objective: Investigate the water cycle to see how water is used on Planet Earth Resources: The Water Cycle worksheet Using the Water Cycle worksheet explain the water cycle using its technical terms. Students are then to label the picture with the technical terms. If time allows the students may wish to create their own picture of the water cycle for display in their school or classroom.

3 Water s Wonderful Water is truly wonderful. Water covers about 70% of the earth s surface; we are made of about 65% water. Water can be found underground, on top of the ground and in the sky. It can float (vapour), it can break away rocks and create devastation as well as being needed for life. Because water can do so much it can act in strange ways. Fill in the sheet below with a friend and see if you can understand water. Write the differences between water when it is Heated up to boiling point Chilled to freezing point Water also behaves differently depending how much room it has! Talk with a friend about what water does when: You put your finger into a cup full of cold water? You jump into a swimming pool? You spill some water on the floor? You pour water onto a sponge?

4 Rain Maker This is an experiment for you to see how condensation and precipitation happen. Before you take part in the experiment make sure that you have an adult to supervise you as the experiment involves using hot water and great care is needed to avoid injury. Materials: A glass jar Plate Small amount of hot water (for use by adult) Ice cubes Experiment Pour about two inches (5 cm) of hot water into the glass jar. Cover the jar and wait three minutes before you start the next step. Put the ice cubes on the plate. What happens? Explanation This is a small version of what happens in the atmosphere. The cold plate causes the moisture in the air to cool down and form water droplets. Warm, moist air rises and meets colder air higher in the atmosphere. The water vapour condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the ground.

5 The Water Cycle The earth has a limited amount of water. This water keeps going round and round in what is called the Water Cycle`. This cycle is going on all the time and has four main parts. Below are the names for the four main parts and what they mean. After reading these, label the picture below in the arrows with the four words to describe what is happening. Then create your own picture to show the Water Cycle` to be displayed. Evaporation Condensation Precipitation Collection Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers, lakes and the ocean and turns it into steam or vapour (like you get from a boiling kettle). This water vapour or steam is then taken into the air. As the warm water vapour in the air cools it changes back into a liquid and forms clouds. This is called condensation. You can see this at home if you pour a glass of cold water on a hot day, there will be beads of water on the glass. This is formed because the water vapour in the air has been cooled and turned back to water. Precipitation happens when so much water has been condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds become heavier until the water starts to fall as either rain, hail, sleet or snow. When water falls back to earth as precipitation it may fall back into the rivers, lakes or oceans that it came from. Or it will fall on the land and either be soaked up to be used by plants and animals or it will run back into the rivers, lakes and oceans to start the cycle all over again.