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Grade - 6

Subject - Science
Lesson - Air Around Us

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate that air takes up space
2. Explain how moving air can do work
3. Understand the different gases make up air
4. Demonstrate how oxygen helps in combustion while carbon dioxide does not
5. Show that air has mass and causes pressure

Materials requires - balloon, baby bottle, sprite, plastic cup, ping pong ball, tissue paper, tank
of water, Flat wood panel that looks like a boat with a plastic tube through it + balloon on top,
baking soda, vinegar, Transparent jug, splint and match, safety glasses, candles,

Lesson 1 - Air Around Us


Duration - 1 Class Period or 35 min

Introduction
● Ask students to hold their breaths for 10 secs
● Ask them how they felt - what was it that they wanted
● The word Air will surely come out
● Let us learn about air

Air takes up space


● Blowing a balloon
● Baby bottle and Sprite - http://youtu.be/NQYO3Dp8lCA
○ Carbon dioxide is dissolved in the soda. The bubbles you see on the baby bottle
are of carbon dioxide trying to escape. When I shake the bottle, more carbon
dioxide wants to escape, but since it cannot, it expands the nozzle, proving that
gases take up space
● Inverted cup with ping pong ball and tissue paper -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBNNfKT6Kk0&feature=related

Air can move things - Wind power


● Balloon powered boat - http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/balloon-boat

Air is present everywhere


● Put an empty bottle in an inverted position in a tank filled with water. Tilt the bottle to see
air bubbles come out.

Components of air
● Conduct a class discussion using
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/21c/atmosphere/chemicalsairrev1.sht
ml
Carbon dioxide and nitrogen do not help in combustion
● Making some carbon dioxide to extinguish fire - http://youtu.be/1z_ApF2n-5Y
○ Many fire extinguishers user carbon dioxide. This is specially important when the
fire is caused due to electrical equipment or wiring -- in that case water is not
used, instead a Carbon dixoide based fire extinguisher is used. http://www.fire-
extinguisher101.com
○ CO2 is an odorless gas that is heavier than air and oxygen so it sinks. You can
even pour it out of a jar. It removes the oxygen from the fire site, and since
oxygen is needed for burning something, the fires goes out.
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy05/phy05225.htm
○ For combustion, one of 3 things are required - Oxygen, Flame and Energy,
■http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/combst1.html

Lesson 2 - Air Pressure


Duration - 1 Class Period or 35 min

Materials Required - 1 Foot Scale, Soda can , Glass bottle of milk, Boiled Egg, candle - big,
two 1 litre bottles of soda

Does Air have mass


● Two balloons on a string -
http://weather.about.com/od/lessonplanselementary/ht/air_has_mass.htm
○ The total weight of the atmosphere exerts a pressure of about 14.7 pounds per
square inch at sea level. Source -
http://www.weatherquestions.com/How_much_does_air_weigh.htm
○ This is equal to about 1 KG per square cm. The area above our head and
shoulders is about 1000 square cm (or one square foot). This means air above
us is causing 1 tonne or 1000 kg of pressure on us. Source -
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/air_pressure/ AND
http://www.physics.org/facts/air-really.asp
○ 1000kg = Weight of a small car like Santro -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Atos

Air Pressure
● Crushing a soda can - http://youtu.be/0NZmo-qQxIk
○ Why this happened - http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/COLLAPSE.html
● Egg pushed inside a bottle using air pressure - http://youtu.be/Fhz4xsJ1LUo
● Water rises in a plate when an inverted candle is extinguished -
http://youtu.be/_3YArPbmjsY
○ http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/waterexperiment/index.html
○ http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/lesson_plan10.pdf
○ Even though the source seems arbitrary, they seem to have got it right -
http://havefunwithsimpleexperiments.blogspot.com/2010/02/combustion-of-
candle-combustion-de-una.html
● Bottle with holes in it - air pushes the water out of the bottle -
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000107

Lesson 3 - Air on top of Mountains


Duration - 2 Class Periods or 70 min

Class Discussion
How far does the air extend above the earth? What happens in those layers?
● 600 KM - http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/912_liftoff_atm.html
● http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/ess05_int_vertical/

How does pressure change as you go up a mountain?


● It decreases
● Why - The pressure at any level in the atmosphere may be interpreted as the total
weight of the air above a unit area at any elevation. At higher elevations, there are fewer
air molecules above a given surface than a similar surface at lower levels. Source -
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/prs/hght.rxml
● Experiment - Take a few weights. Give them to a student to hold. Tell them, imagine the
weights correspond to air. Now you climb up a mountain, and therefore there is less air
on top of you, so you decrease some weight. The person holding the weight will feel less
pressure.
Why do mountaineers carry oxygen?
● At sea level, because air is compressible, the weight of all that air above us compresses
the air around us, making it denser. As you go up a mountain, the air becomes less
compressed and is therefore thinner. Source -
http://www.altitude.org/why_less_oxygen.php
● The further away from sea level you are, the pressure of the entire atmosphere
decreases so in effect, there is less air to breathe. Less air means less oxygen. So it’s
true that there is less oxygen the higher up you go, but there is also less nitrogen, argon
and other gasses that make up the air we breathe.
● Source - http://www.vmeverest09.com/oxygen-at-altitude/
If you went up to a mountain and sealed a bottle, and then brought it down, what would happen
to the bottle.
● http://www.altitude.org/why_less_oxygen.php
Why do our ears pop in air planes or in higher altitudes?
● http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/090292.html

Components of air - including dust particles


● What are the 3 things needed for combustion? How does combustion happen in space?
● Nitrogen and Carbon dioxide - They do not support burning
● Oxygen
● Dust particles
● Humidity and water vapor
Experiment for Detection of Oxygen
● Potato and Hydrogen Peroxide to produce oxygen -
http://www.windows2universe.org/teacher_resources/teach_oxygen3.htm
○ In case the above experiment does not work, play the following video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0zK6pdcxm0
● Possible experiment - http://mypages.iit.edu/~smile/ch9515.html
What would happen if the oxygen on earth was more or less than what it is?
● More - Small sparks would cause fire.
● Less - Will be breathing in poison and will lead to death - Source -
http://express.howstuffworks.com/ask-mb-oxygen.htm
○ http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.oate.oxygen/

Lesson 4 - Relative Humidity


Duration - 1 Class Period or 35 min

Humidity and Water Vapor (See Relative Humidity Lesson Plan)


● What is water vapor - Gaseous form of water in the air
● Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air
● Relative humidity - Amount of water vapor air can hold.
● What does 75% relative humidity mean?
● What happens on days of high humidity - We feel hot as we are unable to sweat
● Experiment - Building a Cloud in a bottle - How do clouds form?
○ Cloud is just condensed water vapor
○ http://www.ehow.com/video_4872172_do-clouds-form_.html
○ When you squeeze the bottle, the pressure increases inside, compresses the air
inside. Remember that air has water vapor in it. When we release the cap, we
allow the molecules to expand, their temperature cools (means gas to liquid),
and they start sticking to one another and rubbing alcohol. Thus forming a cloud.
In the real world, the water vapor finds pollution and dust particles to stick to and
condense.
○ http://vimeo.com/13582337
○ http://weirdsciencekids.com/Cloudinawaterbottle.html
○ http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/cloud-in-a-bottle-experiment
● Relative Humidity = 100% does not mean it will rain.
○ To get rain, the water condensing in the clouds has to become heavy enough to
fall to Earth. The tiny droplets just aren't heavy enough to fall. Just like fog or in
the shower, they go whichever way the wind and eddy currents blow them, or
they just hang there, suspended in the air.
○ Source - http://www.geography-
site.co.uk/pages/physical/climate/why%20does%20it%20rain.html

Additional Research
Making a firki + Weather clock that shows the direction of the wind - Air in motion is wind
Prove air occupies space - Empty bottle overturned into a bucket of water
Why do mountaineers carry oxygen cylinders with them?
Oxygen is needed to burn things - Inverted glass on candle experiment
Air contains dust - Sunlight coming in through a dark room
Fine hair and mucus prevent dust particles from getting inside
Why do policeman wear masks in a traffic signal
Water has air - Boil water to see bubbles of air coming out.
Soil has air - pour water in lump of soil. huh?
Balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in atmosphere is maintained by interchange of gases
between animals and plants
Wind power - Wind mill, Yachts, Airplanes

Hot air rises - Balloon on a bottle which is being heated - http://youtu.be/5M_XtIVE_u4


Bernoulli’s bag - Power of air - http://youtu.be/pzhM9e5ZpbA
Air takes up space - Vinegar and Baking soda making CO2 - Again showing that gas takes up
space - http://youtu.be/y4yaUYEfEjQ

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