Tower of water
When you turn on the tap, have you ever wondered where that water comes from? Or why it sprays out so fast? Water comes from many places, but to make it to your house in some places, it first has to be pumped up into a water tower. It’s just a giant tank high up off the ground. When the water comes back down, it pushes down on itself and rushes through the pipes underground. How much water does a water tower hold, and why are water towers so high off the ground? The higher they are, the farther the water has to fall and the faster it goes. Water towers come in all sizes, but each holds about 1 day’s worth of water needed for its town. It can be a million liters or more — that’s 50 times as much as a swimming pool!
Wee ones: Hold a glass under a tap, turn on the water, and count “1 alligator, 2 alligator…” until it’s full. How many seconds (alligators) did it take? Try again running it faster!
Little kids: If it takes 1 minute to fill a big bucket of water from your tap, but 10 minutes to fill your bathtub, how much longer did the tub take? Bonus: If your tub holds 40 liters, how would you count those up counting by 10s?
Big kids: Can you “spell” the number 1 million in digits? Bonus: A fire hydrant gushes water really fast: up to 1,500 liters a minute or more! If your pool party starts 20 minutes from now and your pool needs 28,000 liters, will that hydrant fill it in time?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone’s faucet…see what you get!
Little kids: 9 minutes more. Bonus: 10, 20, 30, 40.
Big kids: 1,000,000. Bonus: Yes! The hydrant will put out 30,000 liters.
Wee ones: Hold a glass under a tap, turn on the water, and count “1 alligator, 2 alligator…” until it’s full. How many seconds (alligators) did it take? Try again running it faster!
Little kids: If it takes 1 minute to fill a big bucket of water from your tap, but 10 minutes to fill your bathtub, how much longer did the tub take? Bonus: If your tub holds 40 liters, how would you count those up counting by 10s?
Big kids: Can you “spell” the number 1 million in digits? Bonus: A fire hydrant gushes water really fast: up to 1,500 liters a minute or more! If your pool party starts 20 minutes from now and your pool needs 28,000 liters, will that hydrant fill it in time?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone’s faucet…see what you get!
Little kids: 9 minutes more. Bonus: 10, 20, 30, 40.
Big kids: 1,000,000. Bonus: Yes! The hydrant will put out 30,000 liters.