Where Do Puddles Go?
- Chemistry
- Ages 6–8 · Grades 1–2
- Hands-on experiment
What you’ll find out
- Water can turn into an invisible gas and go into the air. This is evaporation.
- Warmth makes water evaporate faster.
- Cooling turns water vapour back into drops. This is condensation.
No sign-up and no real names. In the lesson you check your understanding as you read, run the experiment yourself, and practise until it sticks.
Water goes into the air
After rain there is a puddle, and by the afternoon it has gone. The water did not vanish. It turned into an invisible gas and went into the air. This is called evaporation. Puddles dry fastest on warm, sunny, windy days.
Water comes back out of the air
Put ice in a glass on a warm day, and drops soon appear on the outside of the glass. The water did not leak through. It came from the air. The cold glass cools the invisible water vapour, and it turns back into drops. This is condensation.
Curriculum links: NGSS 2-PS1-4