Home
Geophysical Institute

24 days of kitchen oceanography

Each day a new experiement will be posted here. Reveal what is hidden behind the windows by clicking on the arrows below.

Main content

Density-driven currents

Day 3

Why does water from one bottle go down and the other up?

Tetthetsdrevne strømmer
Photo:
Mirjam Glessmer, GFI

Experiment 3:

First, we place two small bottles in a large vessel of lukewarm water: one filled with hot, red-colored water. The other with cold, blue-colored water. As a result, we now have water masses with three different densities inside our vessel: the red, hot water with the lowest density rises and flows upwards out of the bottle. While the lukewarm water runs into the bottom of that bottle. The blue, cold water with the highest density sinks down from the other bottle, while there the lukewarm water flows into the upper part of the bottle.