Discover Your Changing World with NOAA

An Activity Book

Introduction

The Sun helps make Earth's weather and climate.

How does the Sun give Earth energy?

How do the ocean, ice, clouds, and air help use that energy?

How have plants, animals, and people changed Earth's climate?

How might climate change affect plants, animals, and people?

Scientists use special tools. The tools check the weather. The tools help guess future weather and climate.

What is a climate-literate person?

Climate means the usual weather in a place over a long time.

A climate-literate person knows how climate works.

A climate-literate person can find good facts about climate.

A climate-literate person can make smart choices about climate.

These activities will teach you about Earth's climate. You will learn what changes it. You will learn how changes affect us. You will learn how to help protect our Earth.

Have fun!

Table of Contents

• Activity 1: The Great Glowing Orb — Make a Solar Heat Engine
• Activity 2: The Climate Team — Make a Solar Cooker
• Activity 3: Climate Is Our Friend...Isn't It? — Make an Extinction Polyhedron
• Activity 4: Climate, Weather...What's the Difference? — Make an Electronic Temperature Sensor
• Activity 5: How Do We Know? — Make weather sensors and a home weather station
• Activity 6: I Didn't Do It...Did I? — Make Your Own Greenhouse Effect
• Activity 7: Why Should I Care? — Show how carbon dioxide changes the ocean
• Activity 8: Are You Climate Literate? — Play the Essential Principles Challenge
• Activity 9: Communicate! — Make a message about climate change
• Activity 10: The Incredible Carbon Journey — Play the Carbon Journey Game

Climate Science Literacy means understanding how you affect climate. It also means understanding how climate affects you.

The Big Ideas About Climate

1. The Sun gives Earth most of its energy.
2. Many parts of Earth work together to make climate.
3. Life on Earth needs climate. Life also changes climate.
4. Climate changes over time and place. Nature and people both cause this.
5. Scientists learn about climate by watching, studying, and testing.
6. People are changing the climate.
7. Climate change will affect Earth and people.

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Activity 1: The Great, Glowing Orb

Big Idea: The Sun is the main source of energy for Earth's climate.

What You Will Do: Make a Solar Heat Engine.

The Sun sends energy to Earth. This energy heats the land. It heats the ocean. It heats the air too.

Warm air moves toward cold places. This makes wind. This makes ocean currents too.

Heat energy turns into motion energy. A Solar Heat Engine works the same way. It is a tool you can build.

How It Works

Some plastic shrinks when it gets hot. This engine uses strips of plastic. The strips are on a wheel. The wheel spins on a rod.

Sunlight makes one strip shrink. This pulls the wheel. The wheel turns. Then another strip gets sunlight. The wheel keeps turning. Strips that move into shadow cool down. They get long again.

What You Will Need

• An adult partner
• 1 black plastic trash bag
• 2 foam cups (16 oz)
• 1 wood dowel (thin rod)
• 1 foam tray
• 2 straight pins
• 1 plastic lid, about 4 inches wide
• 2 empty metal cans, tops removed
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun (low heat)
• Metal file
• Ruler
• Compass (for drawing circles)
• Unsharpened pencil
• Sharp knife
• Gloves

How To Do It

Do this activity with an adult.

1. Lay the trash bag flat. Cut it into strips. Each strip should be 3 inches wide. Each strip should be 10 inches long. You need 8 good strips.

1. Stretch each strip. Hold one end in each hand. Pull slowly. Make it twice as long. Some strips may break. That's okay. Keep trying. Cut 2 inches off each end when done.

1. Measure the cup's small end and big end. Draw two small circles and one big circle on the foam tray. Use a compass so you know the center. Cut out the circles with the knife. Wear gloves!

1. Make the Fixed Cup: Poke a hole in one cup's bottom. Make it the same size as the dowel. Poke a hole in the big circle too. Poke a hole in one small circle. Glue these circles onto the cup. Push the dowel through the holes. Let one inch of dowel stick out. Glue the dowel in place. Add extra glue to make a smooth round bump. This bump will help the other cup spin.

1. Make the Wobble Cup: Poke a hole in the other cup's bottom. Make the hole a little bigger than the dowel. Poke a hole in the last small circle. Glue this circle onto the cup.

1. Put a line of glue inside the Wobble Cup's rim. Stick one plastic strip onto the glue. Hold it with a pencil until it dries. Glue all 8 strips around the cup. Space them evenly.

1. Slide the Wobble Cup onto the dowel. Use tape to hold it in the middle. Glue the loose ends of the strips onto the Fixed Cup's circle. Keep the strips snug, but not too tight.

1. Cut a hole in the plastic lid. Wear gloves! Remove the tape. Glue the lid onto the Wobble Cup. Center the hole on the dowel. Push a pin into each end of the dowel. Your engine is done!

1. File a small notch into each can's rim. Rest the pins in the notches. Spin the engine gently to check its balance. Add pins to fix any heavy side.

1. Put your engine in the sun. Watch it spin!

Challenge: How could you make this engine more powerful?

Think About It: Would white plastic work as well as black plastic? Does color change how much heat it soaks up?

Your engine is just a model. It can't do big jobs. But you can use it to learn things.

Try this: Draw a line on the edge of the lid. Count how many times it spins in one minute. Try it on a cloudy day. Try it on a sunny day. Compare the numbers.

You could also count spins at different times of day. Try comparing different times of year too. Always measure at the same time each day!

Would your engine spin faster in Northern Canada or Southern Florida? Places closer to the Equator get more sun. This is one reason climate is different in different places.