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Science Experiment: Storm Surge |
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Hi kids, parents, and teachers! Science projects and experiments can be fun. However, be sure to always have a parent or teacher supervising to make sure things are safe!
Purpose: To understand the effect of the storm surge during a hurricane. The power of a hurricane can actually raise the ocean level causing flooding. How does this happen? For more on hurricanes go to our hurricane page or Dangerous Weather for Kids.
Materials
- small electric fan
- construction paper
- scissors
- dishpan
- tape
- water
- grease pencil
Procedure
- Make a funnel out of construction paper to fit over the fan.
- Tape it to the wide end of the fan to concentrate the wind.
- Fill the dishpan with water to within about 5 cm of the top.
- Mark the water level at one end of the pan with the grease pencil.
- Position the fan so that it will blow towards the marked end.
- Turn the fan on so that the wind blows across the surface of the water.
- Note the water level and mark with the grease pencil.
- Turn off the fan and measure the difference between the first mark and the second mark.
- Record in science journal.
- Repeat steps 5-9 but tilt the dishpan to raise the water level near the first mark to create a high tide.
Conclusion/Questions
- Explain storm surge.
- Explain how a high tide would affect the storm surge and coastal damage.
- Conduct research on recent hurricanes to find out the storm surge heights and total amount of damage. Explain how the two are related.
Reference: NASA SciFiles
More Weather Experiements:
Coriolis Effect - How the spin of the Earth effects our daily lives.
Wind - Learn what creates wind.
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