What's In The Wind Experiment

Science Experiment of the Month- April 2025

This month's career topic is restorative ecology. Restorative ecology is the study of understanding an ecosystem, investigating what happened to cause it to be impaired, and once the scientists have all the information, coming up with solutions to restore the ecosystem to its natural state. One test a scientist could do is one to find out what kind of stuff is floating in the air. What's in the wind?

Sticky Sheet that is collecting things flying in the wind

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Foster Curiosity

The first step in any science experiment is the hook. What about this topic makes you say something along the lines of "What??" "Why would this do that?" "I wonder what would happen if I do this..."

Start with this kids article all about what is in the air by Climate Kids a NASA resource.

10 interesting things about air

Get your mind thinking about air with these videos explaining what air is, what's in it, why it matters, and more.

Why we like it:

This video gets to the point about what types of gases are in the air from oxygen to carbon dioxide. Good for younger audiences

This video gets to the point about what types of gases are in the air from oxygen to carbon dioxide. Good for upper elementary and older

Why we like it:

Seeds are apart of the 1% of other particles that are not gases in the air, learn about how they float in the wind.

Why we like it:

This video gets us thinking about where you might want to test air quality

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Form a Question

This experiment is done by creating a sticky flat surface that hangs in the wind and seeing what gets attached to it. Think of it as a sticky wind chime. What do you think would get caught on it? What could you do to the sticky sheet that would change what you caught?

How to form your own question

Measurables

In this experiment, there is only one thing we can measure: what is caught in the air. That being said, there are a few ways you can choose to count this information.

• The total number of things in the air

• The number of different types of things in the air

One has you counting everything you find on the sheet, the other has you finding out the diversity of stuff you catch. For example, on your sticky sheet, you catch:

• 2 mosquitoes

• 3 beetle

• 1 seed of a plant

• 2 seeds of a different plant

• Dust

• pollen

• 1 leaf

The total number of things you caught would be 9, plus however many pieces of dust and pollen you could count. If you did a diversity count, you might say there were 7 things: mosquitoes, beetles, seeds of plant A, seeds of plant B, dust, pollen, and a leaf. Or the diversity count could be 5 things: insects, seeds, dust, pollen, and leaves. All are valid ways to count what you caught.

Variables

A variable is the part of the science experiment we are changing.

Note: A well-designed science experiment should have 1 variable. Once more than one thing is changed in an experiment, it becomes unclear what exactly caused the difference. Imagine you put 3 sticky sheets out in three locations, but forget one of them for 3 extra days. While you might want to conclude that the sticky sheet in the forest caught more stuff, if it was out for 3 more days, you can't say if it was because of the location or extra time. 1 variable at a time.

In this experiment, because we only have 1 measurable, there are many types of variables to choose from.

1. Location

   1. If you created 3 sticky sheets, where would you put them to see if you caught different things?

      1. By your house, near the road, in the woods

      2. On the roof, hanging off the first-story window, near the ground

      3. At your house, your friends' house, and your grandparents' house

      4. Shady area, sunny area, half and half

2. Time of day

   1. You could put sticky sheets out in the morning and see what you catch for the day. Replace them with new sticky sheets for the evening and see what you caught during the night.

3. Time of the year

   1. If you wanted to turn this into a once-a-month experiment, you could track what gets caught for one day a month all year long. Maybe what is in the air changes based on the time of year.

4. Weather

   1. Look ahead at the weather, you could choose to put a sticky sheet out in different temperatures, types of weather, or humidities.

-What is in the air that has you curious?-

Example Questions:

1. Location

   1. Where would you find more things in the air?

   2. Where is a greater diversity of stuff in the wind?

   3. Is there a difference between what is in the air at my house compared to my friends?

   4. Does a sunny area attract more insects to fly in the wind?

2. Day vs night

   1. If I put sticky sheets out during the day, would I catch more dust from cars?

   2. Would less stuff be on my sticky sheet if I put the out at night?

3. Time of year

   1. Does the time of year affect the diversity of stuff in the air?

   2. Does the amount of leaves in the air change based on the time of year?

4. Weather

   1. Does a windy day carry more things in the air than a regular day?

   2. Is there more stuff in the air on a sunny day compared to a cloudy one?

Forming your question

Now that you have thought about what you are curious about, think about how you want to measure the difference. As you can see, depending on what you want to test, your question can sound very different! And don't be limited by our question suggestions, you can form your own questions from what we started here.

Take the curiosity and form it into a question to investigate!

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Make a Hypothesis

Now that you have created your questions, what do you think will happen?

Note: remember hypotheses are never right or wrong they are an informed guess. You should be able to give your hypotheses and explain to someone with a sentence why you think that. That reasoning can be as simple as I've seen it do that on our shelf.

Try this hypothesis-forming formula:

If_______, then_______

If I do this, then this will happen. This is a basic logic clause that is helpful to practice in science.

For example:

• If I put sticky sheets in 3 different locations, then the sheet that is in the forest will have the most stuff collected.

  • (Why do you think that? Because more things live in the forest.)

• If I put a sticky sheet out during the day and another out at night, then more insects will be on the one at night.

  • (Why do you think that? Because there are more moths and mosquitoes at night.)

• If there is a sticky sheet out on a windy day, then more pollen and leaves will be caught.

  • (Why do you think that? Because I see wind pick up things like leaves.)

Still struggling to figure out how to form your own?

In this experiment, the first part should include what the variable is you are testing, followed by what you are measuring. This formula not only tells someone reading the hypothesis what exactly the variable is, but also what types of results they should expect to see. In the first example, you can tell the subject is the sticky sheet, the variable is the location, and stuff on the sheet is being measured. Even if the hypothesis is wrong, we expect the results to be about how much stuff was on the sheets.

Give it a try!

And remember, Science Fair Experiments give us a chance to practice real science. It's still practice, so it's okay to struggle. As you practice doing science fair experiments, you will improve.

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Materials Needed

• Recycled milk jugs or other plastic

• Vaseline

• String or wire for hanging

• Scissors

• Hole punch

• Notebook for observations

• Camera (optional, for documentation)

• Magnifying glass (optional, for closer examination)

Process (steps)

1. Preparing the Sticky Sheets

   1. Save a milk carton or other plastic container for your experiment. Rinse and dry out.

   2. Cut the milk jug along the seams so you have 4 large flat pieces of plastic. Each of the pieces will be approximately 3 inches by 3 inches. Discard any pieces that are not flat.

   3. Using the hole punch, punch a hole into each piece.

2. Hanging the Sticky Sheets

   1. Think about your variable and where you want to hang your sheets.

   2. Write down the name of each location, and when you hung them in your notebook.

   3. Use a permanent marker to name the location on each sheet. This will help keep them organized when you go to collect them later.

   4. Spread a thin layer of vaseline on the plastic sheet to make it a sticky sheet.

   5. Hang up the collection sheet using a string to securely hang the sticky sheets in the selected locations. Ensure they are positioned where they will be exposed to wind.

   6. Leave your squares for 3-5 days. Unless you are testing rain as a part of your experiment, it is best to bring your sheets in if you see it will rain, even if it has not been the full time.

3. Collecting Samples

   1. After the observation period, carefully remove the sticky sheets from their locations. Place them in a safe container for analysis.

   2. Use a magnifying glass to investigate what you've caught and a camera to show the results.

Analysis

After conducting the tests, analyze the results to determine:

• What was on the sticky sheets?

• Did each area catch the same things, or was there a difference?

• Which sticky sheet caught the most? The least?

• Summarize the findings of the experiment into a picture or a bar graph. Look at the results.

Conclusion

What can you say about each area? Was your hypothesis correct? Why do you think the result turned out this way? Did anything surprise you?