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Heavy Air
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In this activity and/or demonstration, learners illustrate visually and physically that air has weight. Learners balance two equally-inflated balloons hanging from string on a yard stick.

Turning the Air Upside Down: Warm Air is Less Dense than Cool Air
Learners cover a bottle with a balloon. When they immerse the bottle in warm water, the balloon inflates. When they immerse the bottle in a bowl of ice, the balloon deflates.

Painting a Picture with Air
Source Institutions
Create a painting by blowing air out of a straw. Push liquid acrylic paint around on some watercolor paper by aiming short bursts of air onto the paint puddle.

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.

As Light as Air
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Learners measure a bottle full of air, and then use a vacuum pump to remove the air. When they re-weigh the bottle, learners find the mass is about 0.8g less.

Fly a Hot-Air Balloon
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Learners assemble a hot-air balloon from tissue paper. The heated air (from a heat gun) inside the balloon is less dense than the surrounding air and causes the balloon to float.

Mini Vortex
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In this activity, learners will build an air cannon out of simple materials you can find around the house. Although air is invisible to the eye, it is not by any means empty space!

Air Pressure
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In this experiment, learners use a blow dryer and water bottle to observe and record changes in air pressure caused by changes in temperature.

Turning the Air Upside Down: Spinning Snakes
Learners color and cut out a spiral-shaped snake. When they hang their snake over a radiator, the snake spins.

How Can Gravity Make Something Go Up?
Source Institutions
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?
Source Institutions
In this kinesthetic activity that demonstrates pressure, learners act as air molecules in a "container" as defined by a rope.

Hot Air
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In this activity, learners set up an experiment to investigate the effects of hot air on the path of a laser beam.

A Pressing Engagement
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In this quick and easy activity and/or demonstration, learners illustrate the effect of the weight of air over our heads.

Turning the Air Upside Down: Convection Current Model
Learners see convection currents in action in this highly visual demonstration. Sealed bags of colored hot or cold water are immersed in tanks of water.

Percentage of Oxygen in the Air
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners calculate the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere by using steel wool's ability to rust.

Hot Air Balloon
Source Institutions
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
Source Institutions
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.

Stomp Rocket
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In this activity, learners build rockets and shoot them into the air by stomping on the plastic bottle launchers.

Balloon in a Bottle
Source Institutions
In this physics activity (page 3 of the PDF), learners will see firsthand that air takes up space and has pressure by attempting to inflate a balloon inside of a bottle.

Measure the Pressure: The "Wet" Barometer
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use simple items to construct a device for indicating air pressure changes.