Wind and Rotation of the Earth

Here Mrs. Watson is showing the class how the sun rays shine on Earth. Students discovered the sun shines on the equator making that air warmer than in the far north and south parts of the Earth.

Then we discussed how the Earth rotates. We showed an example of how the Earth rotating creates wind and air movement. By using water and food coloring the children were able to see that without any wind flow, the air stays in one place. See below how the food coloring stays in one place. But when you swirl the food coloring the air is able to move all around. This is called the Coriolus effect. The hot air rises-or moves away from the equator to the poles where it is cooled. Then moves back to the equator to be heated again.