Air Movement

Lisa C. Ingram                 Frederick Douglass Middle Academy
                               543 N. Waller
                               Chicago IL 60644
                               (312) 534-6176

Objectives:

To understand the existence and movement of air.  Designed for grades 5 through 8. 

Materials Needed:

air cannons
apples
tape
plastic bag
kleenex
a book
playing cards
a bowl
colorful smokebombs
a cup
a piece of paper

Strategy:

Teacher will walk around the room with an air cannon.  Teacher places items on 
top of the head of someone and knocks it over with the air cannon.  Teacher hits 
the air cannon, so that air will touch someone.  Teacher will ask students, what 
is inside of this object?  Wait for responses.  Talk to students about air being 
everywhere.  That it is all around you, even things that look as if they are 
empty are really full of air. 
    
Experiment 1:  Teacher will tape two apples on strings from a door frame or from 
something else.  They should hang about 3cm (1in) apart, and level with your 
mouth.  Wait until the apples are steady then blow hard between them. 

Question?  Do the apples move apart or together?  Why?

Answer:  When you blow, you make air between the apples move.  This moving air 
has less pressure than the still air on either side of them.  So the still air 
pushes the apples together.

Experiment 2:  Teacher will hold a plastic bag open, pull it through the air to 
trap some air in it, then close it.  Tell the students that you can't see the 
air in the bag but you can feel how firm and squashy it is.

Question?  If you have an empty bag, does it have air in it?

Answer:  Yes, air is everywhere, even though you can't see it.

Experiment 3:  Teacher will put bits of kleenex on a flat surface and drop a 
book on them.  The bits of paper blow away because the falling book pushes air 
out of the way and makes a wind.

Question:  Does air move things?

Answer:  Yes, air moves and vibrates things.

Experiment 4:  Teacher explains that air not only moves things, it can also slow 
things down that move through it.  Ask two volunteers to come up and stand on 
chairs.  Below them place a wide bowl.  Hand each student some playing cards.  
Have one student drop their cards end up.  Have the other student drop their 
cards face down. 

Question?  Which cards fell in the bowl the most?  Why?

Answer:  The cards dropped faced down usually landed in the bowl because the air 
pushing up beneath it escapes fairly evenly all around it, so it falls straight 
down.  The card dropped end up, swoops to one side.

Experiment 5:  The teacher will take an empty glass (let the students observe 
the empty glass) and submerge it into water.  The teacher will ask students to 
predict whether or not the paper inside the glass will get wet or not. 

Question?  Why didn't the paper get wet?

Answer:  The air keeps nearly all the water out. (Teacher can tilt the glass to 
show water going into the cup)

Experiment 6:  The teacher will divide the class into groups of a number that 
will vary.  Each group will be given an air cannon.  Inside the air cannon will 
be a colorful smoke bomb.  Each group will go in an open area and take turns 
shooting their air cannons.  All students should observe the colorful smoke 
rings, which are air.

Performance Assessment:

Students will list 3 things that they have learned about air.