Home
Weather London
WeatherRadar
RainfallRadar
TemperatureRadar
WindRadar
LightningRadar
Weather News
Editor's Pick
Discover the app
Weather widget
Contact us
Apps
Career
    Home / Editor's Pick /

    Summer fun: Creating clouds in a bottle

11:00
12 August 2023

Summer fun
Creating clouds in a bottle

cloud in a bottle

Have you ever tried to make your own weather phenomena? We aren't talking about a rain dance, but simply creating a cloud in a bottle.

Creating your own cloud is very simple. All you need is a two litre plastic bottle, some warm water and a couple of matches... and adult supervision if you are too young to use matches.

Pour a small amount of warm water into the bottom of the plastic bottle, leaving the cap off. Then light a match and blow it out.

As soon as you have blown it out, you need to drop the match into the bottle and quickly tighten the water bottle cap back on.

With the lid on, gently squeeze the bottle a couple of times. Did you see a little and very brief puff of whiteness when you released the pressure?

That's the cloud you've made. If you exert more pressure to the bottle, a more noticeable whiteness should appear. But how does the cloud form in the bottle?

By squeezing the bottle you exert pressure. This causes the temperature inside the bottle to increase. When you release the pressure, the temperature in the bottle decreases causing water molecules to condense.

The smoke particles from the match enable the water molecules to condense and stick together around the smoke creating the cloud in a bottle. Have a go for yourself, but don't blink or you'll miss it!

Weather & Radar editorial team
More on the topic
Severe weather rolls on in Europe. Heavy rain and hail. . . Thursday, 17 September 2026
Weather radar showing severe thunderstorms and frequent lightning over northern Italy.
Thursday, 17 September 2026

Heavy rain and hail

Severe weather rolls on in Europe
Low delivers days of gusty conditions. Into the weekend. . . Thursday, 17 September 2026
Wind map showing low pressure near the Faroe Islands, with winds reaching 35 mph around Aberdeen and Dublin and stronger Atlantic winds west of the UK.
Thursday, 17 September 2026

Into the weekend

Low delivers days of gusty conditions
Europe split in two distinct patterns. Autumn meets summer. . . Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Weather maps show a storm over the North Atlantic and temperatures of up to 37 degrees in Spain and Portugal.
Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Autumn meets summer

Europe split in two distinct patterns
All weather news
This might also interest you
Historic Storm Éowyn arrives. On this day.... . . Saturday, 24 January 2026
Split image showing a person in a yellow jacket struggling against strong winds and heavy rain on a street at night on the left, and an Irish wind forecast map on the right with red and purple shading, gusts up to 75 mph, and a wind warning icon, divided by a curved white line.
Saturday, 24 January 2026

On this day...

Historic Storm Éowyn arrives
Storm Chandra makes impact. Severe gales & heavy rain. . . Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Split image showing strong winds over the UK on a forecast map and widespread rain and snow on a weather radar map.
Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Severe gales & heavy rain

Storm Chandra makes impact
New records for England and Wales. Broken again tomorrow?. . . Thursday, 25 June 2026
Temperature map of southwest Britain on 25.06 showing extreme heat across southern Wales and southwest England, with Bute Park in Cardiff highlighted at 34.2°C and Yeovilton at 36.4°C amid widespread deep red heat zones.
Thursday, 25 June 2026

Broken again tomorrow?

New records for England and Wales
All articles
Weather & Radar

Weather & Radar is also available on

Google Play StoreApp Store

Company

Contact us Privacy Policy Legal info Accessibility statement

Services

Uploader

Socials

facebooktwittertikToklinkList