How Does Hot Air Rise Up Through Cold Air?

Here's an experiment we tried to see how hot air rises up through cold air. We used water as it follows the same principles.

We needed:

 Small glass

·        Jug

·        Hot and cold water

·        Food colouring

·        Glad wrap

·        Rubber band

·        Large clear bowl

·        Skewer

What we did:

1.     Use the jug to fill a glass with hot water.

2.     Add some food colouring to help you see the water moving more easily

3.     Cover the glass with glad wrap.

4.     Secure it with a rubber band. Put the glass in the large bowl

5.     Fill the bowl with cold water until the water level is well above the glass.

6.     Poke a hole in the glad wrap with the skewer.

7.     

We watched what happened to the coloured water. It was interesting how it sat on the top of the cold water.

This experiment shows how convection works. Warm water rises through cold water, just as hot air rises through cold air.