Lesson 17 of 84 · Earth's History
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🌋 Rock RealmClouds and Weather Prediction
Earth's History.
🎯 Your mission
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
⚡ The twist
Today's mountain was yesterday's ocean floor.
Mind = Blown
🪨 Every grain of sand on every beach used to be a mountain.
Make a hypothesis first
Guess: where will the water go first?
What You'll Learn
Clouds form when water vapor rises, cools, and condenses on tiny particles in the atmosphere. Different cloud types—cumulus, stratus, cirrus—indicate different weather conditions.
Key Words
- sedimentary
- fossil
- mineral
Materials Needed
- water
- plastic tray
- magnifying glass
- newspaper
- spray bottle
Safety First
- Wash hands after handling materials.
Steps
Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.
Model erosion: tilt a tray of soil and pour water from a cup at the top. Observe how channels form. Try adding plants or rocks to slow the erosion.
Use your senses (except taste) to describe what you notice.
Write a summary of your findings in 3-5 sentences.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3What is precipitation?
Where you see this in real life
Today's weather, tomorrow's beach, next century's coastline — all this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Look at the sky for 5 minutes and try to predict tomorrow's weather.
For the dinner table
“What's the slowest change you can think of?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
Checkout complete lesson on Earth's History for 4th Grade
Get the full Earth's History track as a printable PDF — all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.
