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How Things Work How do weather forecasts get made? Combine station readings, radar, satellite images, and a simplified forecast model.
How Things Work How do weather satellites observe Earth? Compare visible and infrared views and track clouds across successive images.
How Things Work How do weather fronts change the weather? Move warm and cold air masses together and observe clouds and precipitation.
How Things Work How does wind form? Explore uneven heating, air pressure, and moving air. Change land and water temperatures in a simplified coastal model to investigate sea breezes.
How Things Work How do tornadoes form? Explore airflow inside a simplified rotating thunderstorm. Watch a tornado develop and follow its movement across a model landscape.
How Things Work How does radar locate distant objects? Send radio pulses and use returning signals to estimate object positions.
How Things Work How does soil form? Follow rock weathering, organic matter, organisms, and time into layered soil.
How Things Work How does frost form? Explore ice crystals growing on a cold surface from water vapor.
How Things Work How do rainbows form? Position sunlight, water droplets, and an observer. Follow light as it bends and reflects, and explore why different colors appear at different angles.
How Things Work How do tsunamis form? Displace a model seafloor and follow waves across deep and shallow water.
How Things Work How do floods develop? Add rainfall to a model watershed and compare absorption, runoff, and river levels.
How Things Work How do sinkholes form? Explore dissolving rock and underground cavities beneath a model landscape.
How Things Work How do hailstones grow? Follow an ice particle through a storm and watch additional layers accumulate.
How Things Work How do snowflakes form? Grow virtual ice crystals under different conditions and compare their branching patterns.
How Things Work How do volcanoes erupt? Look beneath a volcano and follow magma, gases, and pressure in a simplified model. Compare different volcano shapes and eruption styles.
How Things Work How do droughts develop? Follow rainfall, evaporation, soil moisture, and stored water through a dry period.
How Things Work How do landslides happen? Change slope, water content, and vegetation and compare ground stability.
How Things Work How do earthquakes happen? Move sections of Earth's crust, watch a fault slip, and follow earthquake waves. Compare how different model buildings respond to shaking.
How Things Work How do hurricanes develop? Explore warm ocean water, moisture, rotation, and storm organization in a simplified model.
How Things Work How do rivers shape the land? Guide flowing water across a landscape and watch erosion, sediment transport, and deposition. Change slope and flow to create bends, channels, and deltas.
How Things Work How does dew appear on grass? Cool a model surface and follow water vapor condensing into droplets.
How Things Work How do waves change coastlines? Compare erosion and sediment movement around beaches, cliffs, and headlands.
How Things Work How do ocean currents move water? Explore wind, temperature, salinity, and Earth's rotation in a simplified ocean model.
How Things Work How does lake-effect snow happen? Move cold air across warmer lake water and follow moisture into snowfall.
How Things Work Why do ocean tides rise and fall? Explore the Moon's and Sun's influence on a simplified ocean model. Move them into different positions and compare patterns of tidal change.
How Things Work How do aquifers store groundwater? Send water through soil and rock layers and explore storage and movement underground.
How Things Work How does fog form near the ground? Change air temperature and moisture and watch tiny droplets appear.
How Things Work How do lightning and thunder happen? Explore a simplified storm cloud and the buildup of electrical charge. Compare when a flash is seen and its thunder is heard at different distances.
How Things Work How do mountains create rain shadows? Guide moist air over a mountain and compare its windward and sheltered sides.
How Things Work How does air pollution form and spread? Trace model emissions, particles, wind, and atmospheric reactions across a town.
How Things Work How do greenhouse gases warm the planet? Compare incoming sunlight and outgoing heat in a simplified atmospheric model.
How Things Work How do clouds form, and why does it rain? Follow a water droplet through evaporation, condensation, rainfall, and its return to rivers or oceans. Change conditions in a simple water-cycle simulation.
How Things Work How does humidity affect the air around us? Change temperature and water vapor and explore relative humidity and condensation.
How Things Work How do ocean waves form and reach the shore? Add wind and follow wave energy toward shallower water.
How Things Work How does carbon move through the environment? Follow carbon between air, plants, animals, soil, oceans, and fuels.
How Things Work How do natural springs bring water to the surface? Follow groundwater until rock layers and terrain direct it above ground.