Color-changing Weather Picture



Category Crafts
Badge Scientist
Time to allocate (mins) 30
Outcome Create a basic hygrometer
Resources

Blotting paper (pink colored). Watercolor paper will also work

cobalt chloride

water

paper

paints

paintbrushes

Instructions

Instructions for making flower indicator.  Instead of making the flower, paint a scene on the blotting paper with the blue cobalt/pink paper as the sky.

Dissolve common salt or cobalt chloride in some water to make a saturated solution. Make a flower form out of a pink colored blotting paper. Cut the blotting paper into petal shaped pieces of varying sizes from small to bigger ones. Arrange them according to size keeping the smallest on the top and the biggest below them, with the help of a wire fix them up so that the wire acts as the stem of the flower. Fix a few green colored leaves to the stem in order to make it as real as possible. 
Soak the pink blotting paper in saturated salt solution or cobalt chloride solution.
After drying your own weather forecaster is now ready to use.
Working:
The petals of this flower will change colors indicating impending weather. In fine weather the flower will be white with the dry salt crystals, but on a rainy day and damp weather, the flower petals will turn deep pink. If you have used cobalt chloride the flower will turn blue on a wet day.
Precaution:
- If you are using cobalt chloride in making this, then handle it with care(as this is a laboratory chemical), it may cause allergy in some cases so it is better to take the help of some elder.
- To be on the safer side use common salt in place of cobalt chloride.


Entry written by Sharon Venn of 1st Randburg