Tornado Machine
- Snow Flake Machine for Outdoor or Indoor Use - $79.99
- Discovery Kids Extreme Weather Tornado Lab - $39.75
- Bug Vacuum With Lazer Light - $19.11
- 7-Cubic-Foot Compost Wizard - $109.55
- Summit Weather Pod - $20.38
When the sun shines we make hay, and when the clouds roll in...and dump 18" of snow on the ground, rendering it nearly impossible to even open the front door to our houses...we make tornadoes. In our tornado machines. Dubbed the Teaching Tornado, this electric twister generator was technically designed for classroom use, but then again so were rulers and overhead projectors, and I use those things in my bedroom for...stuff...so let's not pigeon hole and lose sight of the tornado machine's at-home potential.
The live demonstration of how tornadoes form and set out on paths of destruction depicts the basics of updrafts, convergence and rotation, and funnel speed in a contained 18" x 14-1/2" x 12-1/2" cylinder. The machine can perform 7 different experiments, and does not require dry ice.
On a side note, the structure of the DIY tornado contraption looks kind of like a bug zapper, which makes me wonder if its tornadoes are powerful enough to suck up small insects, and also what would happen if I spit at it.
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