Simple science experiments to do at home - make a rain gauge
76Make A Rain Gauge
Its easy to make a rain gauge to monitor rainfall in your garden. This acts as a simple introduction to the rain cycle.
What You Need
1. A plastic 2 litre lemonade or cola bottle.
2. Scissors
3. Bread knife to cut bottle.
4. Insulating tape.
5. Ruler
First find an empty two litre plastic lemonade or cola bottle and cut it into two sections. Cut about two thirds of the way up with a sharp knife - I used a serated bread knife. The top half can then be inverted and pushed into the bottom half. This makes a funnel to catch the rain and prevent evaporation if the sun does shine during your experiment.
Use the insulating tape to hold the two bottle halves together. The insulating tape can also be used to make 10mm markers to act as a measure. Apply small pieces of tape at 10mm intervals to make a measure. Start the first marker a little way up the bottle ignoring the curved base so you get a true measurement of rainfall.
Place your finished rain gauge in a shady spot - to minimise evaporation and where it can't be knocked over by wind or pets. You can support your guage either by using a few bricks or stones around the base, by sinking it partly into soil or making a hanging device from a wire coat hanger and hanging your gauge from a fence or wall.
The results of your experiment can be plotted on a graph to measure your areas average rainfall over time.
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thank you so much.i don't know what i would have done to find a rain gauge so easily.ecpasailly made in homes. thanks again!
Firstly, i would like to thank you for the trouble you took to publish this. There is however, i must say, i gaping flaw in this. By taping the funnel and bottle together, may i ask how are you going to empty the rainwater? If your answer would be untaping the tape, then don't you think that this woud be troublesome? Hahahs. Good work though.
Thank you for putting this together, it has helped my daughter do school project work.
thanks .it was a great help to my project.
thanks, that's really easy and helpful for a science project.
thanks for the help with school im sure i will get a A on my project
I hade to make a weather isterment for school and i got a really good grade using your help :}
thanks for helping with my school project
im going to use this for class
thanks a lot,it will help me in my project works.it seems very chep n easy method for rain water collection.
Thank you!
It will help me in my project.
Thanks a lot.
thsnks, im gonna ace this
I think I am going to use this for a cub scout project. looks very simple and easy to make. I am going to use a stake and a screw to hold it and am also going to drill/poke a hole near the top of the bottom piece of bottle so i can drain the water out if i want to. thanks for the idea
RainbowRecognizer 3 years ago
Thank you - this is a great thing to do at home with the kids... and we certainly are coming into our rain cycle where we're at! :)