This lab is a physical model of what happens on Mercury when two magnetic fields collide and form magnetic tornadoes.
You’ll get to investigate what an invisible magnetic tornado looks like when it sweeps across Mercury.
Materials
- Two clear plastic bottles (2 liter soda bottles work well)
- Steel washer with a 3/8 inch hole
- Ruler and stopwatch
- Glitter or confetti (optional)
- Duct tape (optional)
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Download Student Worksheet & Exercises
- Determine the different water conditions, such as: changing the temperature, changing the volume (height of water), adding another molecule such as oil, isopropyl alcohol, vinegar, and dish soap, adding solid pieces such as glitter, salt, sugar, or small grains. The different mixtures will give different vortex rotation speeds and different drain times. This is equivalent to changing the atmosphere on Earth and seeing how it affects weather (not magnetic) tornadoes. Write the conditions you wish to test in the data table before you start.
- Fill one of the soda bottles with water using the data table. Set the bottle upright on the table.
- Set the washer on top of the bottle opening. Make sure there’s no cap on the bottle.
- Invert the empty bottle over the water‐filled bottle and line up the openings so they can be easily taped together. You want to tape them before they get wet with the washer between them.
- Place the two bottles on a table and watch the water drip from the top to the lower bottle as air bubbles move from bottom to top.
- Invert so the water is in the top bottle and circle it a couple of times to start a whirlpool in the bottle. You should see a vortex form inside as the top drains into the lower bottle. The hole in the vortex lets the airfrom the lower bottle flow easily into the upper bottle, so the upper drains easily.
- When you’ve finished, empty your bottle and add a different solution and repeat the experiment.
What's Going On?
Mercury looks peaceful at first glance. However, when you measure the surface with scientific instruments, you’ll see how the Sun blasts away any hope Mercury has of a thin atmosphere with its radiation and solar wind. Not only that, Mercury is ravaged by invisible magnetic tornadoes that start from the planet’s interior magnetic field. If you’ve ever experienced a tornado, you know how terrifying they can be. Now imagine they are the diameter of your entire planet.
These tornadoes are different from the Earth’s, which form when two weather systems smack into each other, creating instability in the atmosphere. The magnetic tornadoes on Mercury form when two magnetic fields collide. These monstrous cyclones form without warning and disappear within minutes.
Magnetic fields, like the Earth’s, are invisible shields that constantly protect us from the Sun. Our Earth is constantly being bombarded with high energy particles that are deflected off the magnetosphere of our planet. Mercury’s magnetic field is weak and it’s constantly being blasted by solar wind, which also carries a magnetic field. When these two fields collide, the magnetic fields spiral and twist to form a magnetic tornado. (Solar wind is a stream of high energy particles from the Sun’s outer atmosphere.)
Exercises
- Define an atmosphere.
- What is a magnetic field?
- Where do magnetic fields come from in planets?
- Which planets do not have a magnetic field?
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Give it a try. But, be sure that the hole is similar in size to the washer. Reminder don’t use tools without help from an adult!
Would this expiriment still work if I replaced the washer with a water bottle cap that has a hole in it??
Yes that is true – this is supposing we overcame those obstacles or were viewing it from a safe distance!
Me and my siblings put our Lego people in the bottle and watched them swirl around. It was like seeing what would happen if you were inside of a tornado. Not something I’d want to experience. Especially on Mercury. But what would happen if you were in a magnetic tornado on Mercury, if you didn’t get fried or frozen before you got the chance to see what would happen?
Try it and tell me what happens! (That’s what a real scientist would do…) 🙂
what would happen if you took out the washer and stuck them together?
It sounds like you’re not logged in. I’ll have Tonya connect with you asap.
Ever time we log in there no videos…Kind of feel like this program is not as user friendly as it could be…My kids love science and so sad they hav missed out this year…
Wow – that’s awesome! This experiment is a visual for kids to see what a tornado looks like, especially when you add glitter to it. The tornadoes on Mercury are shaped like this (like a corkscrew). Tornadoes on earth form from different temperature and pressure regions in our atmosphere. On Mercury, they form from the interaction between the solar wind from the sun and Mercury’s magnetic field. You can read more about it here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/multimedia/magnetic_tornadoes.html
Hi Aurora,
We had a lot of fun doing the experiment! We used sugar, salt, glitter, oil, vinegar, and alcohol. It took about 10 sec for the run through with just plain water, and 13-14 seconds for the run throughs with added ingredients. We get that each added ingredient is supposed to represent a change in atmosphere, but don’t quite get what we were supposed to learn from the overall experiment or how it relates to magnetic tornadoes on Mercury. Can you clarify? I’m also wondering where the kids are supposed to get the answers to the questions at the end of the lesson. They weren’t all answered in the reading that went with this experiment. I know you provided the answers on a separate sheet, but without looking at those answers where should the kids be looking?
By magnetism! Here’s a NASA article you might find interesting with images from the Messenger mission!
This is super interesting ho do the tornados form on mercury, though?