Wind and more
Equipment
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An open field
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Eight bamboo stakes with labels (masking tape wrapped around the top and stuck together
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A compass
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A stake and a mallet
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A windsock
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A Beaufort scale reference chart
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A record sheet/ Field book
Make a weather vane:​​
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Walk to the centre of your open space. Plant your wind sock on its pole using the mallet. Make sure it’s completely vertical.
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Take your compass and find north. Walk five paces directly north and plant your first bamboo stake. Mark it “north” or “N”. Go back to your windsock
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Take your compass and find south. Walk five paces directly south and plant your first bamboo stake. Mark it “south” or “S”. Go back to your windsock
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Take your compass and find east. Walk five paces directly east and plant your first bamboo stake. Mark it “east” or “E Go back to your windsock
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Take your compass and find west. Walk five paces directly west and plant your first bamboo stake. Mark it “west” or “W”. Go back to your windsock
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You now have your four Cardinal points marked out. Now go ahead and use your compass and remaining stakes to mark out your Ordinal points: NE, SE, SW and NW.
Make your weather observation
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Take your record sheet and record your name and date and time.
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Look at the windsock and decide which point of your weather vane the wind sock is pointing closest to. This is the direction the wind is coming from. Record this direction in your record sheet.
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If you think its squarely between two of the eight points you can record that. (There are secondary points at NNE, ENE, ESE SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW and WNN)
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Look up at your trees and shrubs and the surrounding air. Describe how the trees are moving in the wind and write it on your record sheet
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Look at your Beaufort Scale chart and decide what class of wind speed is closest to your observation. Record it on your record sheet or in your field book
The add ons!
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We used a wind sock, but can you think of other creative designs of making wind observations? What about a kite? Do you think the weight of your 'vane' matters?
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Wind is the effect of temperature differences on Earth. If Earth heats different parts of our nature differently, warmer air moves towards the cooler parts in the surrounding. This is how the planet works, but can you think of other manmade things that can 'make' wind? For example: Fan! What else? How do you think the wind speed varies among them? Try using the Beaufort Scale to classify their effect on a piece of paper and compare it to objects lighter than or heavier than paper. What conclusions can you draw about wind speed?
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What do you think happens in Alexandra when the wind is really calm? Go outside on one such nights, have a look and tell us your story on seesaw blog or share a video on flipgard! :)