You will need:
- Adult supervision
- A bin, or bucket.
- A piece of vinyl plastic, or table, cloth larger than the bin.
- A ratchet strap, gaffer tape or similar.
- A knife.
- A fog machine and fog liquid.
Use the knife to cut a hole out of the base of your bin, no larger than half the diameter of the bin bottom.
Stretch the table cloth or similar material across the larger opening of the bin. If you can get your hands on some vinyl this is the best material to use.
Secure the vinyl with a strap, or strong tape, to make the bin into a drum.
Fill the bin opening with stage fog.
Hit the drum and watch the fog rings fly!
School science visits since 2004!
– Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions.
– Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from.
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– Help students learn how science really works
Get the Unit of Work on Pressure here!
- Want to dive into air pressure?
- It’s all about air pressure in many ways!
From how storms form to how planes fly, this unit covers many concepts about air pressure.
Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more
Why Does This Happen?
A fog machine is used to fill a drum made out of a bin. Hitting the drum forces air out of the hole, with the pressure differences within the air causing an air vortex. The pressure differences are caused due to air slowing down as it rubs on the side of the hole. Areas of ‘slow air’ tend to move towards areas of ‘fast air.’ Better put; high pressure moves to low pressure.
The mathematician Bernoulli found that moving air has less pressure than air that is still, this helps to create the fog rings as the slow air on the edge of the hole rushes toward the faster air in the centre of the hole. The moving air has momentum and rolls the fog into a ring shape, also known as the vortex you see puffing out of the bin!
Low air pressure occurs when air is sped up. Then the energy of the air molecules is being used mostly to move them faster, and less to bounce them off of each other and the balloons. Without as many collisions between the air molecules, the pressure between them is lower, and surrounding, slower-moving air molecules have more energy to bounce into the space, moving the balloons towards each other as they move in. The way that moving gases and fluids work is that slower air will move towards faster air.
Want to make smaller rings?
Try vortex ring out of a bottle!
- Teaching about air pressure? Check out the Flight or Weather show!
- Teaching about Newton’s laws? Check out the Forces, Friction & Movement workshop!
Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class.
Flight or Weather
Years 3 to 6
Maximum 30 students
School science show (NSW & VIC)
60 minutes
Online Class Available
STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary
Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials.
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