Essy

Cloud Myth Busters

Essy was watching a science video that claimed this experiment showed how rain falls from clouds.

It certainly looked convincing.

Colourful drops slowly moved through the fluffy "cloud" before bursting into the water below.

"But is that really how rain forms?" wondered Essy.

Professor Picklebottom smiled.

"One of the most important jobs of a scientist is to ask whether something is actually true."

So today, you're not just doing an experiment...

You're investigating a scientific claim!

Can you discover what's really happening before you read the explanation?

The Crazy Scientist - Banner 9_edited.pn

MEET THE TEAM

Ages

5-12 yrs

Duration

min

15

Difficulty

Easy

Stage

Stage 1-3

Cite this resource

All Categories

Created by Darin Carr (BSc, DipEd)
NESA Accredited Teacher · Chemistry & Physics Specialist · 30+ years in-class teaching
Resource Version: 1.0
First Published:

Last Updated:

9 Sept 2025

31 July 2026

Experiments >

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Cloud Myth Busters

MISSION VERIFIED

Classroom tested. Teacher designed. Safe at home.

Practising NESA accredited

Australian Science Teacher

★ 30+ years of classroom experience

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Before you investigate... watch the mystery

MISSION HOOK

Professor Picklebottom and the team are travelling and collecting amazing science mysteries.

✔ Coming in Term 1 2027

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LAB Resources
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Mission Equipment

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

A tall clear glass or large jar
Water
Shaving cream (foam, not gel — the foam structure is essential)
Food colouring — at least 3 colours for the full visual effect
A dropper or pipette (for precise, slow drops)
A spoon to level the shaving cream surface (optional)

Let’s Investigate

Follow the missions steps below to solve the mystery.

1 Build Your Model

Fill a clear glass about two-thirds full with water.
Spray a layer of shaving foam about 3–4 cm thick on top.
Let the foam settle for a few seconds.

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

2 Test One Drop

Carefully add ONE small drop of food colouring.
Don't add any more colours yet.
Watch carefully.

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

3 Collect More Evidence

Now add several more drops in different places.
Watch carefully for similarities and differences.

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

4 Test the Model

Think about a real cloud.
Compare it with what happened in your glass.

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

5 Investigate Further

Run the experiment again.

Choose ONE thing to change.

Ideas:

thicker foam
thinner foam
warm water
cold water
bigger drops
smaller drops

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

6 Make Your Decision

Look back at all your observations.
Think about the evidence you collected.

YEH... NAH!

After investigating...

☐ YEH – I think this really models rain.

☐ NAH – I think it models something else.

Explain your thinking.

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

1 Big Title

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

1 Big Title

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

1 Big Title

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

What do you think will happen when you place one drop of food colouring onto the foam?

○ It will stay on top.

○ It will sink straight through.

○ It will slowly move through the foam.

○ Something else.

1 Build Your Model

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

What do you think will happen when you place one drop of food colouring onto the foam?

○ It will stay on top.

○ It will sink straight through.

○ It will slowly move through the foam.

○ Something else.

1 Build Your Model

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

What do you think will happen when you place one drop of food colouring onto the foam?

○ It will stay on top.

○ It will sink straight through.

○ It will slowly move through the foam.

○ Something else.

1 Big Title

Gather your materials and get

ready for an amazing mission!

PREDICT

OBSERVE

EVIDENCE

ASK

SAFETY

TIP

PREDICT

What do you think will happen when you place one drop of food colouring onto the foam?

○ It will stay on top.

○ It will sink straight through.

○ It will slowly move through the foam.

○ Something else.

The Crazy Scientist LAB Learning System™

Every experiment follows The Crazy Scientist Lab Learning System™ — a simple way to help kids think like real scientists.

LINK to what they already know,
ACTIVATE curiosity through hands-on discovery
BUILD understanding that actually sticks.

You already know that rain comes from clouds. And if someone asked you how — most people would say something like: the cloud fills up with water until it gets too heavy to hold, and the water falls out as rain. That explanation sounds reasonable. It gets repeated everywhere.

Here's your prediction before you touch anything: you're going to drop food colouring onto shaving cream floating on water.

You're predicting two things: what you think will happen — and whether you think this experiment actually shows how rain forms.

Write both predictions down. Then do the experiment. And then ask the question nobody in the room is asking.

Watch a single colour closely from the moment it lands on the foam — follow it all the way until it stops moving
Try adding colours slowly and carefully to different spots on the surface — watch whether they interact

The colour didn't sit on top and suddenly fall when the foam was "full." Describe exactly how it moved — was it a sudden drop or a gradual journey through something?

Look at the foam layer itself while the colour is moving through it. What does it look like from the side? What does that tell you about the structure of shaving cream?

You've just watched a liquid move through a porous structure and emerge on the other side. That process has a name: percolation. And it's running the world in ways most people never think about.

When rain falls on soil, it doesn't stay on the surface forever — it moves downward through tiny gaps in the ground until it reaches rock layers it can't pass through. That's how underground rivers and aquifers form. How is that the same thing you just watched?

A coffee filter is a porous medium — water passes through but the coffee grounds stay behind. What was acting as the porous medium in your experiment — and what was being filtered?

"Want the full teacher guide? The Crazy Scientist Lab includes classroom delivery tips, how to manage the WOW moment, differentiation for Stage 2 & 3, — ready to teach tomorrow."

Think Like a Scientist

Scientists don't just do ONE experiment; they change one part of the experiment (independent variable) and then see how it affects another part of the experiment

(dependent variable)

Change ONE variable and test again.

Does the depth of the shaving cream layer change how long it takes for the colour to break through — does a thicker "medium" slow the percolation?

Does the concentration of food colouring change how it moves — does more concentrated (denser) colouring percolate faster than a diluted drop?

Dr Puddledrip’s Science Tip

the-crazy-scientist-life-jacket-student-worksheet-density-floating-experiment.jpg

Read the Science

Here's what every other version of this experiment gets wrong: shaving cream is not a cloud, and this is not how rain forms.

Real clouds are not sponges. They don't hold liquid water and release it when they get too full.

A cloud is a suspension of microscopic water droplets — or ice crystals — floating in air.

So what IS this experiment showing? Percolation.

Shaving cream is an aerosol foam: a porous matrix of tiny soap-coated air bubbles, packed together with small interconnected channels running between them. It's not solid — it's riddled with tiny gaps.
Food colouring is water-based and denser than the foam. When you place it on the surface, gravity begins pulling it downward through those tiny channels, squeezing between the bubbles, moving through the foam the way water moves through soil.

When the food colouring reaches the boundary between the foam and the water, it breaks through and streams downward — producing the colour trails that look so dramatic. The colour is heavier than the water it enters, so it sinks and diffuses as it falls.