It Can Be Fun! Here is an easy experiment your can do at home.
- plastic soda bottle
- permanent marker
- handful of stones or gravel
- Ask an adult to cut off the top section of the bottle.
- To keep the bottle from tipping over, fill the bottom of the bottle with a handful of small stones or gravel. Then pour water to cover the stones and draw a line across the bottle and label it “O” to mark the base level.
- Beginning at the base level, draw a few long lines to represent 1-inch measurements. Then draw shorter lines in between to represent half-inch measurements.
- Place your rain gauge in an open area outdoors.
- Be sure to keep water at baseline level to make up for evaporation.
- Measure the collected rainfall and record your results on a chart. Include the date, weather conditions (sunny, cloudy, rainy) and the amount of rainfall, if there is any.
- Be sure to empty the bottle, keeping the basline level, each time you measure and record any collected rainfall.
Have a couple of people do this project and see who collects the most rain.