GEOGRAPHY MYP/GCSE/DP
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Why does it rain?

Why doesn't it hurt when it rains??

1. Why is rainfall important?

In your groups, discuss the reasons why rainfall is important? Think back to your work on decision makers. How does rainfall affect human activity? How does it affect the natural environment and ecosystems?

2. Why does it rain? - what are the ingredients for rainfall?

Both of the diagrams on the left show the basic elements that are needed for rainfall to occur. Study both diagrams carefully and describe the ingredients and processes that go together to make rainfall in your own words.


​
Picture
Picture

2. What are the different types of rainfall?

Watch both of these video clips VERY CAREFULLY. You are going to be using them to help you draw/annotate your own diagrams of each of the four different kinds of rainfall that are explained!
1) Explain how clouds form in your own words including all of the following words/phrases:
  • swirling mass
  • water vapour
  • water molecules
  • particles of dust and pollen
  • collide
  • bigger and heavier
  • 1000000
  • raindrops
  • gravity
2) List the THREE kinds of rainfall that the clip lists


3) This clip includes a fourth kind of rainfall. What is it? Add it to your list!

​

3. Rainfall diagrams

rainfall_diagrams.pdf
File Size: 63 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Use the information from the videos above to make sure that you have four fully annotated diagrams showing each of the four types of rainfall below. The labels have been listed for each diagram but you will need to sort them into the right order and position them properly on your own diagrams. 
Relief Rainfall (Orographic rainfall)
  • warm moist air
  • air cools
  • air sinks and warms
  • air forced to rise over hills/mountains
  • evaporation
  • air cools
  • rain shadow (area with low rainfall as all the moisture has gone)
  • condensation forms clouds
  • precipitation
Picture
Picture

Convectional rainfall
  • air cools as it rises
  • hot sunny conditions
  • the ground heats the air above it
  • condensation forms clouds
  • sun heats the ground
  • air rises because hot air is less dense
  • precipitation

​Frontal rainfall
  • air cools as it rises
  • front (where two air masses meet)
  • cooler air (more dense)
  • warmer air (less dense)
  • condensation forms clouds
  • warm air is forced to rise over the cooler air
  • precipitation
Picture
Picture

Low pressure rainfall (depressions)
  • condensation forms clouds
  • air cools as it rises
  • precipitation
  • air rises in the centre of a low pressure system

4. Rainfall mime!


​Your group is going to work as a team to create a mime/dance which will explain your kind of rainfall to the rest of the class. You MUST include:

  • Why the air is moist
  • What causes the air to rise
  • Why the air cools
  • How and why clouds form
  • Anything specific to your kind of rainfall
ONE person is allowed to speak but the rest of the group need to use your bodies to show/explain the processes which make it rain! PLANNING TIME = TEN MINUTES MAXIMUM!!

Picture

5. Homework practical task - make it rain

MATERIALS:
  • glass mayonnaise or canning jar
  • plate
  • hot water
  • ice cubes

PROCESS:
  • Pour about two inches of very hot water into the glass jar.
  • Cover the jar with the plate and wait a few minutes before you start the next step.
  • Put the ice cubes on the plate.

EXPLANATION:

What happens? The cold plate causes the moisture in the warm air, which is inside the jar to condense and form water droplets. This is the same thing that happens in the atmosphere. Warm, moist air rises and meets colder air high in the atmosphere. The water vapour condenses and forms precipitation that falls to the ground.

DOCUMENT:
Photograph, sketch or even video your experiment and annotate or do a voice over which explains the processes occurring and connecting back to relief, convectional and frontal rainfall.

​
Picture
  • Home
    • Contact
  • MYP
    • Development >
      • An unequal world?
      • Billionaires investigation
      • Africa: the danger of a single story
      • Patterns of development
      • Trade and development
      • Fair Trade
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Tectonic Hazards >
      • What is risk?
      • Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift
      • Plate tectonics
      • Distribution of tectonic hazards
      • Measuring earthquakes
      • Why do people die in earthquakes?
      • School earthquake plan
      • Earthquake assessment
      • Volcanoes - what are they? Why are they important?
      • Volcano "Science Fair"
      • Causes of tsunami
    • Population >
      • Why study population?
      • Population distribution
      • Population growth
      • Population pyramids
      • Demographic transition model
      • Migration
      • Migration examples - case studies
      • Refugees in Indonesia
      • Population revision activities
    • Weather and Climate >
      • Weather vs Climate and why is it important?
      • Climate graphs
      • Why does it rain?
      • What affects temperature and why is Jakarta so hot and wet?
      • What causes wind and how do we measure it?
      • Microclimates
  • IGCSE
    • Course information
    • Physical: Hazardous environments >
      • Distribution of tectonic hazards
      • Causes of tsunami
      • Measuring earthquakes
      • Earthquake case study 1: Haiti
      • Earthquake case study 2: Christchurch
      • Why do earthquakes do more damage in LICs than in HICs?
      • How are volcanic eruptions measured?
      • Tropical storms - distribution
      • Causes of tropical cyclones
      • Tropical cyclones - case study
      • Why live in hazardous areas?
    • River Environments >
      • Hydrological cycle
      • River basins
      • Factors affecting river regimes
      • Fluvial processes: erosion
      • Fluvial processes: weathering and mass movement
      • Fluvial processes: transportation and depositon
      • River features and their formation
      • How rivers change from source to mouth
      • Uses of water
      • Water pollution
      • Water supply
  • IBDP
    • Changing population >
      • Global patterns of economic development
      • Physical and human factors affecting global population distribution
      • Case study 1: China
      • Case study 2: Niger
      • Demographic transition
      • Megacity growth
      • Forced migration and internal displacement
      • Ageing populations
      • Pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies
      • Gender equality policies
      • Trafficking policies
      • The Demographic Dividend
    • Global climate vulnerability and resilience >
      • Atmospheric system
      • The energy balance
      • Changes in the energy balance
      • The enhanced greenhouse effect
      • Climate Change and the Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Biosphere
      • Impacts of climate change on people and places
      • Disparities in exposure to climate change risk and vulnerability
      • Government-led adaptation and mitigation strategies
      • Civil society and corporate strategies
    • Global resource consumption and security >
      • Progress towards poverty reduction
      • Measuring trends in global consumption
      • Global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of water
      • Global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of land/food
      • Global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of energy
      • Water food and energy nexus
      • Recycling and waste
      • Malthus vs Boserup
      • Resource Stewardship strategies
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Freshwater - drainage basins >
      • The drainage basin as a system
      • How rivers change from source to mouth
      • River discharge
      • River processes
      • River landforms
      • Factors affecting flood risk
      • Attempts at flood prediction
      • Flood mitigation
      • Flood mitigation case studies
      • Water scarcity
      • Agricultural activities and water quality
      • Pressures on lakes and aquifers
      • Internationally shared water and conflict
      • Water management: participation of local communities
      • Dams as multi-purpose schemes
      • Water management: Integrated Drainage Basin Management (IDBM)
      • Managing wetlands
    • Leisure, Sport and Tourism >
      • Growth and purpose of leisure time
      • Categories of tourism and sport
      • Economic development and participation
      • Factors affecting personal participation
      • Factors affecting growth of tourism hotspots
      • Spheres of influencee
      • Factors affecting a national sports league
      • Festivals
      • Niche national tourism strategies
      • Role of TNCs
      • Tourism as a national development strategy
      • International sporting events
      • Consequences of unsustainable growth
      • Sustainable tourism
      • Future international tourism
      • Political and cultural influences on sport
    • Extended Essay in Geography >
      • Supervisor meetings
    • Skills/concepts >
      • Infographics
      • 4 Ps
      • Mock examination revision and preparation
  • Geography and ToK
  • Theory of Knowledge
    • Knowledge and Technology
    • Knowledge and Language
    • Knowledge and Politics
    • Knowledge and Religion
    • Knowledge and Indigenous Societies