Jim Noonan - Professor Figgys Weather and Climate Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Activities Exploring Meteorology, Earth Systems, and Climate Change

Hi, I'm Professor Figgy and Im going to teach you everything I know about the weather!

PROFESSOR FIGGYS
WEATHER & CLIMATE SCIENCE LAB for KIDS

52 FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES

Exploring Meteorology, Earth Systems, and Climate Change

JIM NOONAN

FOREWORD BY

MARTHA STEWART

UNIT 1
EARTHS AMAZING ATMOSPHERE

UNIT 2
THE POWER OF THE SUN

UNIT 3
THE CLOUDS & THE RAIN

UNIT 4
THE WINDS THAT BLOW

UNIT 5
SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS

UNIT 6
WHEN ITS COLD & SNOWY

UNIT 7
CLIMATE IN CRISIS

FOREWORD

By Martha Stewart

It was always exciting, fun, surprising, and educational when Jim Noonan, aka Professor Figgy, donned his white lab coat and oversized eyeglasses and stepped onto the set of The Martha Stewart Show. Each and every episode was a delight, and that we all learned how to make giant crystal snowflakes, glowing fog bubbles, a CD hovercraft powered by balloons, crystal egg geodes, elephant toothpaste, and lava lampsto name a fewopened our imaginations to infinite possibilities!

It was Professor Figgys incredible talent as an eccentric educator, with his quirky sense of humor and incredible knowledge of new and old science, that drew us to him. He never ceased to entertain, to teach, to demystify, and to explain in laymans terms the wonders of the universe.

What Figgy, as we called him, did so well was take simple household ingredients, such as school glue and borax, and transform them into something magical and wonderous, like green slime, capturing our imaginations, celebrating creativity, and engendering, in the most friendly way possible, our curiosity!

Jim Noonan has now turned that showmanship, that knowledge of science and nature, that deep curiosity into a magnificent book devoted to understanding weather and climate. And this book is directed at his favorite audience: children of all ages who get a kick out of learning from a wizard, a magician, a true-to-life Merlin.

In fifty-two ingenious projects, Figgy aims to educate and entertain the whole family in the very complexand at times controversialscience of climate change, weather patterns, and meteorology, encouraging all of us, children and adults alike, to put on our thinking hats and perhaps strive to make a difference in the frightening world of global warming and climate evolution.

Photos courtesy of Rob Tannenbaum/Watershed Visual Media

Professor Figgy shows Martha the famous Egg-in-a-Bottle experiment. See to try it!

Figgy jokes with Martha while demonstrating how to make glittery zodiac constellation wall art.

My grandchildren, ages nine and ten, have been fans of Figgy for a long time. This book cements their relationship to his knowledge and teaching skills in a volume designed to please, to entertain, and to inform in an incredibly astute and useful manner.

Thank you, Professor Figgy!

What else do you have up your sleeves???

INTRODUCTION

WEATHER VS. CLIMATE

Weather and climate are not the same thing, but they are related. You have to understand one in order to understand the other, and scientists study and report on both in order to help people live better lives today and in the future.

Weather is the combination of events that occurs in the atmosphere over a short period of time. Changes in temperature, air pressure, humidity, and other factors make the weather cloudy or sunny, windy or calm, or rainy or snowy on any given day. Weather is different in different parts of the world and changes quickly over the course of minutes, hours, days, and weeks.

Climate describes what the weather is like over a longer period of time and in a specific part of the world. There are five basic climate zones: tropical, desert, temperate, continental, and polar. When we talk about climate, were describing what we would expect the weather to be on a certain day in a certain zone based on lots of weather data gathered over months, years, decades, and even centuries.

WATCHING & MEASURING THE WEATHER

In 350 BCE, Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote a book called Meteorology, which comes from the Greek word meteoron, meaning of the atmosphere. Aristotle set out to describe why the weather does what it does, but he was mostly incorrect in his explanations.

It wasnt until the 1600s that scientists started measuring specific factors that affect the weather. Physicists who invented tools to measure air pressure and temperature were some of the first meteorologists. Their early work led to the study and prediction of the weather thats done today with radar and supercomputers.

What you observe when you pay careful attention and use all of your senses gives you very useful data about the weather as its happening. The activities in this book will ask you to do a lot of observing, measuring, and predicting, sometimes with special tools and sometimes without. By sharpening these skills, these labs will set you on your way to becoming a meteorologist yourself.