This is a series of activities demonstrating that air has mass, takes up space, and can exert a force on objects enough to lift them.

By watching and performing several simple experiments, students develop an understanding of the properties of air: it has mass, it takes up space, it can move, it exerts pressure, it can do work.

This is a series of investigations about air and its properties. How air exists all around us, and things it is capable of doing.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.

Air pressure is pushing on us all the time although we do not usually notice it. In this activity, students learn about the units of pressure and get a sense of just how much air pressure is pushing on them.

In this activity, learners simulate Otto von Guericke's famous Magdeburg Hemispheres experiment. In this modern, low cost version, a pair of learners try to pull apart two suction cups (dent pullers). Learners then calculate the amount of force holding the dent pullers together.

This lab exercise provides students with activities utilizing vector operations within the context of the atmospheric and oceanic environments.

As an introduction to bioengineering, student teams are given the engineering challenge to design and build prototype artificial limbs using a simple syringe system and limited resources. As part of a NASA lunar mission scenario, they determine which substance, water (liquid) or air (gas), makes the appendages more efficient.

Let's imagine a scale model of the Earth and use a basketball to represent the Earth. Now, let's get ourselves some packages of fruit roll-ups and start covering the basketball with layers of fruit roll-ups. How many layers would we have to cover the basketball with in order to make the stack of fruit roll-ups as thick as the Earth's atmosphere, to scale?

Air is our most precious resource. Without food, we can live for weeks and without water, we can live for days. But without air to breathe, we survive about 4 minutes! If you visit the top of Mt. Lemmon in Arizona, you will probably notice a shortness of breath due to the thinner atmosphere at 8,000 ft. At the top of Mt. Everest at 29,000 ft. about 99% of the earth's atmosphere is below you. In a commercial jet, traveling across country, you would be dead in minutes without the pressurized cabin and supply of oxygen to breathe.Relative to the planet earth, the atmosphere we survive in is extremely thin. Most people live at or close to sea level since most of the major cities of the world are along coastlines. Some cities and villages in Mexico, South America and China are at higher elevations from 8,000 to 12,000 ft. Few, if any, people actually live above 15,000 ft. Mt McKinley in Alaska is about 20,000 ft high and climbers do get to the top without oxygen tanks but they need tremendous determination due in part to the thin atmosphere.Given that most people live below an altitude of 15,000 ft., calculate the thickness in miles of the atmosphere in which humans effectively live.

In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF), learners will construct a model hovercraft out of an empty spool and a piece of cardboard. A balloon provides the air pressure through the spool and a hole in the cardboard to lift the hovercraft off the table surface. Further experimenting with different sizes and shapes of cardboard can develop the best design. Relates to the linked video, DragonflyTV GPS: Luge.

In this physics activity (page 3 of the PDF), learners will see firsthand that air takes up space and has pressure by attempting to inflate a balloon inside of a bottle. Though this activity was created as a pre-visit for a traveling science show, it makes a great stand-alone activity as well!

Using gumdrops and toothpicks, students conduct a large-group, interactive ozone depletion model. Students explore the dynamic and competing upper atmospheric roles of the protective ozone layer, the sun's UV radiation and harmful human-made CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons).

In this quick activity (page 1 of PDF), learners will witness firsthand the effects of Bernoulliäóťs Principle by capturing a ping pong ball in the stream of air created by a hair dryer. Not only does the ball float straight above the dryer, but learners can also experiment by tilting the dryer at an angle, setting the blower on a lower speed, or turning on the heat. Relates to the linked video, DragonflyTV: Kites.

In this activity, learners explore Boyle's Law and discover that water will boil at room temperature if its pressure is lowered. Learners conduct an experiment using a plastic syringe and water and then have the option to repeat the experiment with carbonated water and compare the results.

Students are introduced to the respiratory system, the lungs and air. They learn about how the lungs and diaphragm work, how air pollution affects lungs and respiratory functions, some widespread respiratory problems, and how engineers help us stay healthy by designing machines and medicines that support respiratory health and function.

What keeps bubbles and other things, like airplanes, floating or flying in the air? In this activity, learners blow bubbles and wave 3x5 cards above, below and on different sides of the bubbles to keep them afloat as long as possible. The Did You Know section explains the Bernoulli principle: how waving cards above the bubbles helps keep them afloat because faster moving air exerts less pressure to push the bubbles down. The activity can be extended by having learners wave their bubbles through an obstacle course they design themselves.

In this activity, learners will use a compact disc to build an air puck that can glide across a smooth tabletop. The puck glides with almost no friction on a cushion of air escaping from a balloon.

In some cities, especially large cities such as Los Angeles or Mexico City, visible air pollution is a major problem, both for human health and the environment. A variety of sources contribute to air pollution, but personal vehicles account for one of the main sources. Though each car has relatively low emissions when compared to vehicles of the 1970s, there are so many more cars on the road now that their emissions play a large role in overall pollution. In this activity, students think about alternate ways to power a vehicle to reduce emissions. Student teams design an eco-friendly car using the engineering design process, and make a presentation to showcase their product.

Students observe and discuss a simple balloon model of an electrostatic precipitator to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.

Engineers design methods of removing particulate matter from industrial sources to minimize negative effects of air pollution. In this activity, students will undertake a similar engineering challenge as they design and build a filter to remove pepper from an air stream without blocking more than 50% of the air.

This article continues an examination of each of the seven essential principles of climate literacy on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured. Principle 2 covers the complex interactions among the components of the Earth system. The author discusses the scientific concepts underlying the interactions and expands the discussion with diagrams, photos, and online resources.

Students examine interactions and feedback between the cryosphere and atmosphere. In the first part of this investigation, students do a hands-on activity to explore albedo and how sea ice helps regulate global temperatures.

By tracing the movement of radiation released during an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, students see how air pollution, like particulate matter, can become a global issue.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members use a hair dryer to balance a ball in a stream of air, seemingly defying gravity.

This video segment adapted from ZOOM offers a clever demonstration of buoyancy by showing how to pour a cup of air into a cup filled with water.

Pre-service Midle School teachers devised an experiment to test an assertion that destruction of the Brazilian Rainforest would lead to a serious drop in atmospheric oxygen. The experiment proved to be a failure, but opened other avenues of science learning and had a positive impact on their confidence in teaching inquiry-based science.

Our understanding about the air we breathe has changed dramatically through time. This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site tracks the changing thought on air and the creation of the Periodic Table of the Elements.

In this science experiment, you use a salt carton to make an air puffer that can blow out a candle.

Students use a sponge and water model to explore the concept of relative humidity and create a percent scale.

Students are introduced to the fundamentals of environmental engineering as well as the global air, land and water quality concerns facing today's environmental engineers. After a lesson and activity to introduce environmental engineering, students learn more about water chemistry aspects of environmental engineering. Specifically, they focus on groundwater contamination and remediation, including sources of contamination, adverse health effects of contaminated drinking water, and current and new remediation techniques. Several lab activities provide hands-on experiences with topics relevant to environmental engineering concerns and technologies, including removal efficiencies of activated carbon in water filtration, measuring pH, chromatography as a physical separation method, density and miscibility.

Students develop critical thinking skills by interviewing a person who has perspective on environmental history. Students explore the concept of a timeline, including historical milestones, and develop a sense of the context of events.

This article aligns the concepts of Essential Principle 2 of the Climate Sciences to the K-5 content standards of the National Science Education Standards. The author also identifies common misconceptions about heat and the greenhouse gases effect and offers resources for assessing students' understanding of interactions among components of the Earth system. This article continues the examination of the climate sciences and climate literacy on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured.

This article identifies age-appropriate national science education content standards and curriculum connections for introducing complex concepts contained in Principle 7 of the Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. The principle describes consequences of climate changes on Earth systems and human lives. The content standards will help teachers determine appropriate topics for their students. A number of resources from the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle are highlighted for their connection to the science curriculum in the early grades. In addition, the article identifies common misconceptions about weather and the water cycle often held by students.

In this activity, learners (at least three) work together to explore the effects of atmospheric pressure. A learner (at least 100 lbs) will step inside an extra large trash bag, while another reduces the air pressure in the bag slightly with a vacuum cleaner. The bag will squeeze the occupant due to the differences in external and internal pressure.

Air is one of Earth's most precious resources, and we need to take care of it in order to preserve the environment and protect human health. To this end, students develop their understanding of visible air pollutants with an incomplete combustion demonstration, a "smog in a jar" demonstration, and by building simple particulate matter collectors.

Students build and observe a simple aneroid barometer to learn about changes in barometric pressure and weather forecasting.

This lesson (on pages 15-24 of PDF) explores how sound is caused by vibrating objects. It explains that we hear by feeling vibrations passing through the air. Learners take part in several demonstrations, making those vibrations visible. They put a tuning fork in a shallow pan of water and use it to bounce a ping-pong ball, showing the fact that the tuning fork is vibrating when it's making a sound. There are extensions described involving comb kazoos, rubber band guitars, and putting rice or cereal on top of a drum.

This lesson introduces students to the concepts of air pollution and technologies that have been developed by engineers to reduce air pollution. Students develop an understanding of visible air pollutants with an incomplete combustion demonstration, a "smog in a jar" demonstration, construction of simple particulate matter collectors and by exploring engineering roles related to air pollution. Next, students develop awareness and understanding of the daily air quality and trends in air quality using the Air Quality Index (AQI) listed in the newspaper. Finally, students build and observe a variety of simple models in order to develop an understanding of how engineers use these technologies to clean up and prevent air pollution.

Students learn basic marketing concepts and use professional marketing techniques to compose an advertisement for a hybrid vehicle. In the process, they learn the principles of comparative analysis.