Monday, 20 April 2020

How To Make A DIY Rain Gauge In 5 Easy Steps

Today for lock down Mrs Bennett set us a challenge to make a DIY Rain Gauge and record how much water is falling averagely at your place each day, for a week. So I decided to do a 'how to' writing to show you how to make one. Of course these kinds of rain gauges aren't particularly accurate because the bottles that you use differ in size and width. But I figured I'd try it anyway.

     What you'll need

  • a  plastic bottle (not including cap)
  • craft knife (or scissors if you don't have one)
  • sellotape 
  • something to fix it in place (I used duct tape)
  • and some vivids/pens to decorate (optional)

  1. Remove the label from your bottle, and draw a line around your bottle about 3 to 5 cm from the top, as a vague line of where to cut. 
 
        2.  Cut around the line using your craft knife.

          3. Next flip the top bit upside down and using the sellotape, stick it to the top of the bottle,                  creating a funnel of sorts.

           4. Then  you can decorate your funnel to your hearts content using vivids or pens.


            5.  Finally using your duct tape (or whatever your using to fix it into it's place) stick it to a                   fence post or something similar outside, where you'll catch some rain.


And There You Have It!!
Your Very Own Rain Gauge In Only 5 Simple Steps!

And Of Course I Had Some Help On This Project With My Faithful Little Helper Gus













By
Labels: , , , , ,

8 comments:

  1. Mrs Bennett20 April 2020 at 12:31

    Hi Liana
    It is great to see your set of instructions, and also to see the Gus the helper. I am sure he was great company as you worked!
    You have mentioned the rain gauge may not be that accurate? Every body will be working with a bottle of different shape and size...Can you think of a way you could accurately record the rainfall each day?
    I like the addition of designs to your funnel.
    I will be interested to compare your table and graph with Charlies. Do you think the rainfall at Motu and Rakauroa over the course of this week will be similar?
    Bye for now
    Mrs Bennett

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 April 2020 at 11:05

      Hi Mrs Bennett,
      Gus was extremely helpful, especially when he kept on licking the bottle, preventing me from cutting the top off. But apart from getting in the way slightly, he was great moral support.
      I suppose you could find the area of the opening circle at the top and then compare it to a standardised rain gauge, and alter how much water you record collecting. Like if the standardised one was double the size then you'd double the amount of water you got to compensate for the surface area lost? I guess that might work?
      Yes I think it could be similar rainfall in Motu and Rakauroa. We haven't gotten any rain yet though, which is quite odd considering that for the last week it's been practically raining non stop. Although it definitely in cold and overcast, so it just can't seem to make up it's mind!
      Thank you,
      -Liana

      Delete
  2. Robyn Shaw21 April 2020 at 06:20

    Hi Liana, I was sorting the recycling yesterday and thought about making this very thing as I put some plastic bottles aside. Now all you need is rain! Gus looks happy. Richie dog not quite so. A bull kicked him and he is limping -he may have a broken bone in his foot sadly. The vet is coming up to pregnancy test today so will check him out. Thanks for the instructions for the rain gauge. Is it ok if I share them please?
    Mrs Shaw

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 April 2020 at 11:09

      Hi Mrs Shaw,
      I look forwards to hearing about your rain gauge when we finally get back to school! Oh no, I wish Richie the best and hopefully has a speedy recovery. I'm fine with the instructions being shared.
      Thank you,
      -Liana

      Delete
  3. Anonymous21 April 2020 at 10:40

    Hi Liana,
    Well done on making instructions and photos on how to make a rain gauge. If I was clueless on how to make this it would be very easy to follow. I recently made this, and I finally think that today we will get some rain. Have you got any rain yet? Bye for now. Sophia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 April 2020 at 11:14

      Hi Soph's
      Thank you very much. I saw your post for making your rain gauge and it looked very cool, it was a good idea to put rocks into the bottom to hold it in place. I used duct tape as seen above and although we haven't gotten any rain yet (which is very odd because it's been bucketing cats and dogs for the past while) it will be quite inconvenient to undo the duct tape and then redo it when we eventually do.
      Hope all is well with you,
      Thank you again.
      -Liana

      Delete
  4. Mrs B22 April 2020 at 12:03

    Great work Liana your instructions are clear and easy to follow. Now I hope we get some rain so that you can see how successful your rain gauge is. It will be interesting to see how well duct tape will work once its wet. Hope you and your family are all happy and safe in your bubble. Mrs Bayley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 April 2020 at 11:17

      Hello Mrs Bayley,
      Thank you for commenting. Yes hopefully we will get some rain soon! I do hope that the duct tape will hold when it does get wet. We're all happy here (well my brothers are getting on my nerves a bit but thats beside the point).
      Hope everything is well with you...
      Thank you again.
      -Liana

      Delete

Thank you for your positive, thoughtful, helpful comments.
Positive - something done well
Thoughtful - a sentence to let us know you actually read/watched or listened to what they had to say
Helpful - give some ideas for next time or ask a question you want to know more about

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)