- Create a tornado in a bottle!
- Hands-on demonstration of vortex action
- Study kinetic and potential energy
- Great introduction to any weather unit
SKU: 800014 (15 Pack) *Bottles not included
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- Hands-on demonstration of vortex action
- Study kinetic and potential energy
- Great introduction to any weather science unit
Tornado Tube Kit
Create a Tornado in a Bottle!
An exciting experiment featuring a close-up look at a tornado vortex
Use this Tornado Tube experiment to study kinetic and potential energy, as well as the atmospheric conditions needed to create a tornado vortex. This tornado tube science experiment is a great introduction to any weather unit. Recommended for children ages 4 and up.
How Does it Work?
Start with two 1-liter bottles, and fill one of the 1-liter bottles with water. Connect the empty bottle to the one with water using the Tornado Tube, so it looks like an hourglass. Tip this “hourglass” upside down, swirl the bottles, and in seconds a beautiful tornado in a tube appears.
What Does it Teach?
Use this tornado in a tube experiment to introduce students to kinetic energy and potential energy. Help students discover how air pressure and density work together to create an incredible force of nature. Learn about the science of vortex energy – the swirling, twisting, and spiraling action that can be found everywhere in nature. Water bottle tornado experiments are a fun way to incorporate science vortex lessons in a way that’s engaging and more easily understandable for children. It gives them something they can see and recreate, which solidifies lessons learned from tornado-in-a-bottle experiments.
What Colors do the Tornado Tubes Come in?
The Tornado Tubes come in a variety of colors including green, blue, clear, yellow, orange, teal, and red.
What Size Bottles Can I Use?
Any size bottles will work with the Tornado Tube, but we recommend using 1-liter bottles. We have found that the 1-liters contain just enough liquid to demonstrate the energy of the vortex. It is also the easiest for your kids to hold on to.
Learn About Vortexes and Energy!
Creates a hands-on demonstration of vortex action! Steve Spangler’s Tornado Tube can be used to study kinetic and potential energy with your students!
A Swirling Vortex of Energy
Children may have heard stories about tornadoes that can carry entire houses away and set them down somewhere else, like on top of a nasty witch. But do they understand how tornadoes form? With the Tornado Tube from Steve Spangler Science, children of age four and up can create a water bottle tornado that they can see right in front of them. All it takes is a couple of one-liter bottles that are connected with the Tornado Tube and some water. Inverting a full bottle and applying a swirling action creates an energy pattern that mimics that of a real tornado. Vortexes form frequently in nature, and we see them in natural whirlpools in rivers, in some weather patterns, and even in astronomy in the activity of entire galaxies. They occur when there are differences in the speeds that fluids or gases are traveling, and with the Tornado Tube, children can watch it happen.
Wow children in the classroom with this exciting tornado in a bottle experiment, or have children explore the wonders of weather on their own with individual tornadoes in a tube. Our Tornado Tube kit comes with multiple pieces, so you can create a classroom full of cyclone tubes all at once!
Tornado Tube – What’s Included?
- 15 Tubes (*Bottles not included)
- Activity Guide
*Tube colors are assorted and will vary. Adult supervision is recommended.
Frequently Asked Questions
What colors do Tornado Tubes come in?
Tornado Tubes come in a variety of colors including but not limited or guaranteed to be: green, blue, clear, yellow, orange, teal, and red.
What size bottles can I use to create a tonado?
Any size bottles will work with the Tornado Tube, but we recommend using 1-liter bottles. We have found that the 1-liters contain just enough liquid to demonstrate the energy of the vortex. It is also the easiest for your kids to hold on to.
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Toll Free: 800-223-9080
Monday – Friday
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Steve Spangler Science
5 Research Drive, Suite 150
Shelton, CT 06484
[email protected]
Lee Wilkinson (verified owner) –
This experiment has been around for decades, but the kids still ask for it every time I teach about weather.
I buy both the bottles and the tubes from this web site, and have for years.
BE AWARE….the bottles WILL leak! A number of years ago soda bottles were redesigned with shorter necks. The tubes were also redesigned, but now they often leak. I’ve done this with THOUSANDS of children, and generally 1/2 to 2/3’s of the bottles end up leaking.
Do yourself a favor, and go pick up a $.64 roll of white, Teflon tape at Home Depot in the plumbing supplies aisle. Wrap one turn around the threads of each bottle before attaching the tube. That solves the problem!
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Nathan –
I really enjoy it, it is the best thing my whole family likes to watch
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Daine –
This didn’t even work well
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smack2021 –
Hi Diane- Can you please contact customer service at [email protected] with your order number?
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