Thermometer Directions

  1. Color the water with several drops of food coloring
  2. Fill the bottle with the colored water.
  3. Mold the clay around the straw, about 2 inches from the end.
  4. Insert the straw into the bottle and mold the clay so that you seal the straw. Do not let the bottom of the straw touch the bottom of the bottle.
  5. The water will rise about one half inch above the clay seal.
  6. Use the marking pen to mark the level of the water on the straw.
  7. Check the room thermometer and write the temperature at your mark on the straw.
  8. Fill the pan with warm water.
  9. Set the bottle in the pan of warm water and wait for the water level to stop rising. Label that as the top reading.
  10. Make equal spaced marks between the high and low temperatures.

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Lesson Plan submitted by Carol Mitchell, Poquoson Elementary School, Poquo son, Virginia, USA, for the NASA's S'COOL Project.