The thermometer (DON DON DON!):By Sophia$

A little wile ago we decided that we wanted to make a homemade thermometer out of a bottle and a few other things.

For grade 4 Science I needed to do weather and part of doing weather is you need to be able to measure it.

First we filled a glass bottle with cold water. it had to be glass bottle so it would read the temperature more accurately and when the thing would compress it wouldn't shrivel up into a dried out worm!

We put in a whole bunch of red food colouring, to make the water actually visible. and then stuck a straw in and sealed it with play-dough so it was airtight.

Then we poured cold water to make the water in the straw go down and so the water wouldn't dribble all over the counter we put the bottle in a bowl.

Then we taped a paper scale marked from 1 to 12 to the back of the straw so  we could tell when the temperature was higher or lower by the amount of water that was in the straw, because the water would go up or down the straw based on the temperature. it wasn't in degrees, but it was good enough.

 (we didn't have a picture for this part so that is why I'm dictating it to you)

Then, one day the weather got very warm, and the water in the thermometer expanded and bubbled up through the straw, there there wasn't enough water any more for the thermometer to work. Then I took the play dough off the top, because I thought, "well, now this thing is useless." And then a little while later, my Mum told me our city was expecting a cold snap, that means sudden cold weather.

 It's something to do with a thing called the "polar vortex", which apparently is some wind which makes everything colder, sort of like Elsa from the movie Frozen.

Then a few days later, I looked at the thermometer and the weirdest thing had happened. A little bit of a cylinder of ice had formed. Of course, I know that is what happens when things freeze, that the water expands, and there was a little bit of gushy ice at the top that looked like a tiny bit of exploding lava.

(Now this next part I am going to tell you is from the pictures below. P.S. The last part happened yesterday, Tues. Feb. 4, 2014. Today is Wed.)

This morning as soon as my Mum came in to wake me up, my brother and sister came in too, and they said, "Come! Quick! Something has happened with the thermometer! I can't tell you what it is! Come and see!"

Sure enough, when I got to the window, the entire thing had exploded. That's what happens when water is inside a glass bottle. All the water was pushing against the sides.

This thermometer was effective, for the while that it survived. When you have a homemade thermometer, bring it inside if there is going to be a cold snap! Use an actual thermometer to measure the temperature instead!

THE END!!!!!!!
(DON DON DON!!!)