Rivers, weather and the water cycle
Build a rain gauge and measure a week of weather
How much rain really falls where you live in one week?
Watch first
Follow a drop of water as it rises, makes clouds and falls as rain.
What you need
Tick each one as you find it — 0 of 5 ready.
Stay safe: An adult cuts the bottle. Keep the cut edges taped over and wash your hands after handling the gauge.
Plan the fair test
- Change: The day of the week
- Measure: Millimetres of rain collected
- Keep the same: Same gauge, same open spot, read at the same time each day, emptied after every reading
Objectives this evidences
- Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
- Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies
Do it, one step at a time
Step 1 of 5
- Step 1. Ask an adult to cut the top third off the bottle, then turn that top upside down into the base to make a funnel.
- Step 2. Tape a ruler up the side, or mark millimetres on with the pen, starting from the bottom of the straight part.
- Step 3. Put stones in the bottom for weight and stand it in open ground, away from walls and trees.
- Step 4. Read and empty it at the same time every day for a week, writing the millimetres in a table.
- Step 5. Draw a bar chart of the week and work out the total and the wettest day.
What should happen
Rainfall is very uneven: one day often gives more than the rest of the week put together. That is why geographers use totals and averages.
Think about: A gauge under a tree collects less. Why would that make your measurement unfair?
Write up your result
A sentence or two is enough to save it.
The lessons behind this practical
Each one opens with the same short film, and the film has a written transcript underneath if reading is easier than watching.
Now the quiz for this topic
Questions come from the lessons behind this practical, so nothing is asked that has not been taught.
Quiz
Rivers, weather and the water cycle quiz
4 questions from the lessons in this stage. No timer, and you can try again as many times as you like.