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If Hot Air Rises, Why is it Cold in the Mountains?
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This demonstration/activity helps learners understand why higher elevations are not always warm simply because "hot air rises." Learners use a tire pump to increase the pressure and temperature inside

Full of Hot Air: Hot Air Balloon Building
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In this activity, learners create a model of a hot air balloon using tissue paper and a hairdryer. Educators can use this activity to introduce learners to density and its role in why things float.

How Can Gravity Make Something Go Up?
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In this activity, learners use cheap, thin plastic garbage bags to quickly build a solar hot air balloon. In doing so, learners will explore why hot air rises.

What Causes Pressure?
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In this kinesthetic activity that demonstrates pressure, learners act as air molecules in a "container" as defined by a rope.

Hot Air Balloon
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In this activity, learners build a hot air balloon using just a few sheets of tissue paper and a hair dryer.

The Great Balloon Race
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In this online Flash game, learners take to the skies in a hot air balloon and are challenged to beat other balloonists' times to the finish line without crashing.

Crunch Time
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In this quick and easy activity and/or demonstration, learners use two empty 2-liter bottles and hot tap water to illustrate the effect of heat on pressure.

Lifting Lemon
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In this physics demonstration, learners will be surprised when a lemon slice appears to magically levitate within a pint glass.

Convection Demonstration
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In this quick activity (located on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Balloon Fiesta Activity), learners will see the effects of convection and understand what makes hot air balloons rise.

Drawing Conclusions
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In this weather forecasting activity, learners determine the location of cold and warm fronts on weather plot maps.

Jet Propulsion
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In this two-part activity, learners work in pairs to examine the four basic stages of a turbine engine.

Toasty Wind
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In this quick activity, learners use a toaster to investigate the source for the Earth's wind. Learners hold a pinwheel above a toaster to discover that rising heat causes wind.

"Boyle-ing" Water
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In this activity, learners explore Boyle's Law and discover that water will boil at room temperature if its pressure is lowered.

The Rumblin' Road: Determining distance to a Thunderstorm
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In this activity, learners discover how to determine the distance to a lightning strike or nearby thunderstorm.

What is a “Convection Cell”?
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In this demonstration, learners can observe a number of small convection cells generated from a mixture of aluminum powder and silicon oil on a hot plate.
Haunted by Hurricanes: Use Data to Learn About Hurricanes
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In this activity, learners will determine if the frequency and intensity of hurricanes are changing using real data from the National Hurricane Center.

Atmospheric Collisions
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In this activity/demonstration, learners observe what happens when two ping pong balls are suspended in the air by a hair dryer. Use this activity to demonstrate how rain drops grow by coalescence.