Instructions:
- Fill your container about ¾ full with clean water.
- Add a squirt of dish soap, as well as your glitter or food coloring, if desired.
- Seal the container tightly.
- Move the bottle rapidly in a circular motion. After a few seconds, you should see the water begin swirling. Stop, and watch your tornado!
Can you start a tornado?
When the warm air moves upward into an area of cold air, instabilities will begin to form. The cap of cold air will eventually give way, causing the storm winds to begin spinning. This will create a funnel shaped cloud. If that funnel cloud touches the ground, it becomes a tornado.
How do twisters form?
Tornadoes only form when a thunderstorm has a particular combination of winds. Air rising in thunderstorms can begin to spin when it's affected by winds blowing it in different directions. It starts to rise and is pushed to the side by wind. It rises a bit more and is jostled again by wind moving in another direction.
