What a gas!

Gas is everywhere: in vehicles, in homes, in signs, even in your body. And air itself is a gas. Where does it come from, and how does it work? It’s a gas doing these activities to learn about gas.

CONNECT:

• Did you know that sea plants and animals are the source of gas? Read how natural gas is formed, and how we access it at https://www.electricchoice.com/kids/gas/
• What’s a fart? Gas! Read how it happens at https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/fart.html
• The planet Saturn is largely gas. If you could put all of the planets into a pool of water, Saturn is the only one that would float. Read about this gas giant at https://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMJL6WJD1E_OurUniverse_0.html

CREATE:

• Create a trivia game based on these gas facts: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/gas.html and http://www.scienceforkidsclub.com/gas-facts.html
• How do you see gas? Watch this experiment at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDTF6l2WhYo. Then you might try this at home.
• Here are 10 kid-friendly experience on the science of gas: https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2017/02/02/kid-friendly-science-experiments-gas/

CARE:

• Follow these rules for natural gas safety: http://www.alliantenergykids.com/PlayingItSafe/NaturalGasSafety/000557
• Meet the greenhouse gases at https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-cards/
• What is the connection between humans and carbon dioxide? Watch the impact at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-causes/

CAREERS:

Working with gas isn’t just hot air. Check out the opportunities below.

https://www.oilandgasiq.com/strategy-management-and-information/articles/oil-gas-industry-an-introduction

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/careers/college-to-career/chemistry-careers/oil-petroleum.html

https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/auto-mechanic

Weather or Not

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Well, you can certainly prepare for it, enjoy it, and even make it.

Connect:

• How does weather happen? Check out Weather WizKids, which includes explanations about climate and many kinds of weather: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/
• See some striking pictures of lightning, and learn how it works at http://www.chaseday.com/lightning.htm
• Check out this cloud boutique about different types of cloud formations: http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html/
• Did you know that there are different kinds of weather maps? Check them out at http://www.intellicast.com/. You can track weather, find out about weather alerts, as well as check the weather in your area.
• Weather occurs in outer space, not just on earth, such as geomagnetic storms. You may have heard about sun storms. NASA has great images and info about the sun-earth environment: http://www.spaceweather.com/

Create:

•  Make a tornado in a bottle, following the directions at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42CPZLtnevAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHrbj8iS and http://www.ehow.com/way_5914962_homemade-tornado-tube.html
• You can even make your own weather station! http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/kids/things-to-do/weather-station
• Bay Kids’Weather Page (http://library.thinkquest.org/3805/) was created by sixth graders. It’s filled with facts, stories, and activities. You can add to this site.
• El Niño means more than “infant; it’s unusually hot weather caused by hot water from western South America. You can simulate El Niño by following the directions from the Franklin Institute: http://sln.fi.edu/weather/nino/index.html

Care:

• It’s important to be prepared for stormy weather. Owlie Skywarn’s comic book format provides practical tips for a variety of storms: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/OwlieSkywarnBrochure.pdf
• You know, animals get cold too. The American Animal Hospital Association shares winter pet care: http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/pets/articles/d59
• You may have heard about global climate change. You can actually be part of the solution by participating in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency work: http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/index.html
• You can share your photos about weather with the rest of the world. Submit them at http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/tags/weather/

Careers:

What can you do about the weather? Make a career out of it! You can watch it, record it, communicate about it, measure it, predict it, and respond to it. Here are some possibilities.  Some of the key terms associated with weather careers include “atmospheric science,” “meteorology,” “

• http://www.nwas.org/links/career_info.php
• http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/weather_ed/careers_in_meteorology/
• http://www.ametsoc.org/pubs/careers.html