CycloneTube Science Toy

Create a tornado in a bottle! With this colorful plastic tube, learn about the science of vortex energy, the swirling, twisting and spiraling action that can be found everywhere in Nature.

Fill a 1-liter bottle with water. Connect the empty bottle to the first with the Tornado Tube, so it looks like an hourglass. Tip this "hourglass" upside down, swirl the bottles, and in seconds a beautiful "tornado" appears. It's

Bottles not included. Use this experiment to introduce students to kinetic energy and potential energy. Help them to discover how air pressure and density work together, then discuss the physics of weather and the atmospheric conditions that are present. Purchase some colored lamp oil at a local department or grocery store. Fill one of your tornado tube bottles three-quarters full with water and then add a few ounces of colored lamp oil. Attach the second bottle using a Tornado Tube connector.