Encyclopedia of technologies and techniques. Spruce barometer to help you Pine cone barometer
Well, who hasn’t heard that the weather is predicted by fairly simple physical instruments - barometers?! They are simple, but rare in our homes. And it’s not easy to buy these days. In addition, everyone has become accustomed to relying on weather reports on radio and television. But we are talking about huge regions: the Central Black Earth region, Moldova, Ukraine, Central Asia... But how can you find out about the weather in a specific place, where you are now - at a dacha, in a village, on a hike, in a pioneer camp?
Villagers or experienced tourists can use a variety of signs to predict the weather several hours in advance. How? The forecast lies in the behavior of swallows, crows, and frogs. Even leeches, earthworms... Flowers, trees, and their foliage also act as forecasters...
You can do it even simpler. Since ancient times in Rus', craftsmen used forest trees as tips 
barometers. Christmas tree, for example. You need a branch with a diameter of 2-3 centimeters and a height of 4-5 centimeters with two branches diverging in different directions. Having cleared it of bark, you can consider yourself the owner of a good natural barometer. Why? Here's the explanation. From humidity, the tree swells and grows at least a little in size. The knots of our craft are slightly curved. This means that the wood fibers on top and bottom have different lengths. By absorbing moisture, the lower layers elongate more than the upper, short layers (see Fig. 1). Why not the instrument arrows?
As you can see, nothing complicated. The whole problem, surprisingly, is your... love for the forest. You cannot take a barometer from a green tree. Look for dry or wilted ones. Cut off the top from it - it is quite suitable for making barometers, which are shown in Figures 2-4.
Fir cones will also be useful for us. The largest ones are best - they have large scales. Remove all the scales from the cone, except two, as shown in Figure 5. All that remains is to glue short straws to the ends of the scales - another device is ready.
Place all barometers on a sheet of plywood. And install the sheet itself vertically somewhere in the shade, under a canopy. Such forest devices will serve you for several years.
Interesting:
Each person needs his own hobby to occupy his free time, or to calm his nerves, brighten up loneliness, in general, to each his own. Knitting lessons will help you learn how to knit and crochet. Having learned to knit, for you it will no longer be just a hobby, but something more.
Efimova Ekaterina Andreevna, student of 3 “B” class, Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School No. 29”
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Department of Education of the Administration of Severodvinsk
City competition of educational and research works
schoolchildren "Scientists of the Future"
Barometer made from a spruce branch.
Efimova Ekaterina Andreevna
Student 3 "B" class
Municipal educational institution "Secondary school No. 29"
Supervisor:
Platonova Irina Gennadievna
primary school teacher
1 qualification category
Severodvinsk
2009
Page
- Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..…….3
- Main part……………………………………………………………..……...4
- Tanevsky barometer……………………………………………………..….….….…4
- How did a researcher make a spruce barometer?.................................................4
2.3 Use of branch barometers in folk meteorology………………….5
2.4 My barometer and its indicators……………………………………..…………5
3. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….7
Literature
Appendix No. 1
Appendix No. 2
Appendix No. 3
Appendix No. 4
Appendix No. 5
INTRODUCTION
This summer we vacationed in the town of Khosta, near Sochi, and met a very interesting person there, the owner of our home, Valery Leonidovich Tanevsky.
One day, on one of the most beautiful sunny days, our host says: “Uh-oh, the barometer has deviated, it will rain in 4 days.” We watch the weather forecast on TV, and they reassure us: everything will be sunny, without precipitation. And sure enough, everything came true, but not according to the weather forecasters’ forecast, but according to the readings of V.L. Tanevsky’s barometer. What kind of barometer is this? Valery Leonidovich (formerly a radio engineer) told us something about this barometer.
It became very interesting to me that you could predict the weather yourself, especially since we didn’t have a barometer at home. Returning home, I decided to make a natural barometer and evaluate its accuracy.
Object of my research: weather forecasting.
Subject of study: weather prediction using a spruce branch.
I set myself a goal:
making a barometer from a spruce branch and checking the reliability of its readings.
To achieve the goal, I set the following tasks:
1) find out how this type of barometer is made;
2) study the literature on this topic;
3) find out why exactly spruce branches-barometers are used in folk meteorology, whether in such cases it is possible to use branches of other coniferous trees;
4) make such a barometer with the help of adults and check the accuracy of its readings;
5) compare the readings of the spruce barometer and weather forecasts and determine which of them is more accurate.
In my research I used the following methods:
Studying literature and Internet sites on the topic;
Observations;
Drawing up a comparative (summarizing) table based on the results of observations.
Research hypothesis:I assume that in our northern conditions, the barometers made by me and placed in different conditions (apartment and street) will give correct forecasts.
MAIN PART
Chapter 1. Use of spruce branches-barometers in folk meteorology
1.1. Tanevsky's barometer
How did the Tanevskys make their barometer? It turns out that it was made by hand from an ordinary spruce branch and has been serving its owners for 6 years. Valery Leonidovich once picked up a discarded Christmas tree in the yard after the New Year. I cut a twig with a twig from the trunk, cleared it of needles and bark and loosely attached it to a plywood board so that the twig could rotate. I attached a cornice on top instead of a small roof. I marked a horizontal scale at the bottom, attached it to the frame of the kitchen window, and the barometer started working.
Two years later, Valery Leonidovich replaced the plywood board with a plastic one, because... the tree was deformed from the rain anddarkened (see Appendix No. 1).
The barometer is very sensitive, it reacts to the weather 3-4 days in advance, and if there is a thunderstorm ahead, it simply goes off scale. And according to Tanevsky, there is nothing more accurate than this barometer.
Our host also watches the weather from the window on a huge spruce tree standing in the yard. In fact, this tree is called Himalayan cedar (we asked local tour guides). The longest branch is located at the balcony level of the 4th floor, this is when the weather is clear. As soon as the weather begins to change in a bad direction, the branches of the spruce descend down two floors. The spruce branches seem to be getting heavier (see Appendix No. 2), a spruce tree in the yard was photographed - in clear weather.
Our host also has an old friend, his classmate, now a school teacher. So, according to Valery Leonidovich, he attached a large spruce stick to the roof of the school garage so that it could be seen from afar. And he also learns about changes in the weather by the deviations of this device.
- How did a researcher make a spruce barometer?
From the books I read, I learned that many coniferous trees lower their branches before rain and raise them up before clear weather. This ability is better expressed in spruce. Observant Siberian taiga dwellers have long been able to quite accurately determine the upcoming weather based on the state of the spruce crowns.
The ability to respond to weather is retained in dry wood, in dry spruce branches. This is successfully used to create unique natural barometers. In one of the roomsmagazine "Nature" was An article was published by K.N., an employee of the Irkutsk Mining and Metallurgical Institute. Nedelyaev, in which he shares his experience of determining the weather using the readings of a spruce branch. For this purpose, it is necessary to cut out a small part of the trunk of a young Christmas tree along with a branch, clean the branch from the bark - and the “device” is ready. All that remains is to attach its base to some support, preferably to the wall of a building, leaving the branch free. The anchored branch begins to react to the weather, lowering the end of the branch before rain and lifting it up before clear weather. The amplitude of movement of the end of the branch depends on its length. For convenience, near the end of the branch, attach a scale drawn on paper with divisions every centimeter. After some time, when the branch shows its abilities, marks are made on the scale - clear, rain, variable, as on an ordinary aneroid barometer.
The knot, a barometer made by the author of the article, worked for almost 12 years and was sensitive to changes in barometric pressure and air humidity. Then the author moved to a new place of residence, and the “spruce” barometer went to the new residents. With a length of 32 cm, the branch had a swing amplitude of up to 11 cm, which is very convenient for observations. If the end of the branch from the “alternating” position dropped down one or two centimeters lower in about a day, then this meant that there would be light precipitation. And if it dropped another two or three centimeters lower, then this indicated that there would be heavy and prolonged rain. In the case when the knot rose upward by about five centimeters from the “alternating” position, clear weather was to be expected.
According to the author’s observations, some deciduous trees, in particular maple, also have the ability to lower and raise branches depending on the weather. However, its swing amplitude is much smaller. Thus, the end of a maple branch up to 50 cm long had a vibration amplitude of only 3 cm.
- The use of barometer branches in folk meteorology
It turns out that spruce branches-barometers have been used in folk meteorology for a long time. Writer - naturalist M.D. Zverev told how before the revolution a fir branch was used by a cunning priest . When there was no rain for a long time in the summer and the peasants’ crops began to die, the village priests organized a religious procession, went to the fields with prayer services and asked God for rain. Of course, for the most part there was no rain - the prayer service could not influence the course of atmospheric processes. This priest behaved differently. He was never in a hurry to organize a prayer service, but if he served, he knew for sure when it needed to be done, so that it would rain later. Watching their father, the neighbor children noticed that for some reason he went to the bathhouse in the garden every morning. One day the priest looked into the dressing room, as usual, and immediately gave the command to his worker to run to the bell ringer and call people to the religious procession. The prayer service took place under a hot cloudless sky in unbearable heat. By evening, dark clouds appeared on the horizon, and at night it began to rain. The guys were interested in what the priest was looking for in his bathhouse. They crept there and looked into the hallway. There was only a bench for undressing, and on the wall hung a short spruce log with a long, uncut branch. Of course, the guys didn’t understand anything then.
Many decades later M.D. Zverev was at the forest cordon in the Alma-Ata Nature Reserve. In the heat of the moment he was getting ready to leave. Then the forester-owner went out into the yard, looked at something and, returning to the house, offered to spend the night, since there would be rain and thunderstorms at night and they would just find the scientist in the mountains. And then the forester led the guest under the canopy and showed him his “barometer”. It was a stump of spruce with a long thin branch. Divisions were marked on the wall opposite its end. And then M.D. Zverev remembered his childhood, a bathhouse in the garden and a cunning priest.
How the naturalist writer M.D. made a spruce barometer. Zverev, see “Appendix No. 3”
Chapter 2. My spruce barometer and its indicators
Grandfather made me 2 barometers from spruce branches of equal thickness and length. Dad mounted them on fiberboard sheets, and we made markings on them.
One barometer was installed on a balcony outside(see Appendix No. 4), the other is in my room(see Appendix No. 5). Both barometers initially pointed to
“-2” towards precipitation.
I made observations every day and recorded barometer readings in a table, and also listened to the weather forecast on TV.
date | Device readings on the street | Instrument readings in the room | Atmospheric pressure (mm Hg) | Weather forecast on TV | In fact | Whose readings are more accurate? |
24.01.10 | 2 precipitation | 2 precipitation | Cloudy, | Partly cloudy, light snow, fog in the evening | ||
25.01.10 | 2 It's clear | 2.5 precipitation | Cloudy, | Partly cloudy, light snow | Spruce barometer not on the street |
|
26.01.10 | 4,5 It's clear | 3 precipitation | Partly cloudy, no precipitation | Clear | Spruce barometer not on the street |
|
27.01.10 | 5 It's clear | 2.5 precipitation | Clear | Spruce barometer not on the street |
||
28.01.10 | 5,1 It's clear | 3 precipitation | Cloudy, light snow | Clear, slightly cloudy | Spruce barometer not on the street |
|
29.01.10 | 5,2 It's clear | 3.2 precipitation | Clear | Spruce barometer not on the street |
||
30.01.10 | 5,2 It's clear | 3.5 precipitation | Partly cloudy, light snow | Clear | Spruce barometer not on the street |
|
31.01.10 | 5,5 It's clear | 3.2 precipitation | Partly cloudy, no precipitation | Clear, slightly cloudy | Spruce barometer not on the street |
The interesting thing is that the indoor barometer behaved differently from the outdoor barometer, and its readings did not correspond to reality. I believe this was influenced by the heating and heater in the room. The street barometer turned out to be more accurate.
After some time, I moved the barometer, which was in the room, outside. His testimony became accurate, the same as that of the one hanging on the balcony all the time. CONCLUSION
People have long noticed that coniferous trees and shrubs have a characteristic feature: their branches change their position depending on the weather (prolonged sunny or wet rainy weather). This is explained by the fact that annual branches absorb moisture differently: external ones absorb moisture more than internal ones. In this regard, in hot, dry weather, the outer layer of the branch loses moisture and it straightens, rising along the trunk. On the contrary, as humidity increases, the outer layers of the branch absorb moisture, swell and they bend down towards the trunk. From here it is clear: the branch bends towards the trunk, which means the humidity increases; when the branch straightens, the dryness increases.
Tree fibers are sensitive to moisture: the outer fibers (absorbing moisture) become longer than the inner ones and the branch droops.
So, in my research, I studied the literature and materials from Internet sites on the topic, learned in detail about how such unusual barometers are made, made a spruce barometer myself and checked the accuracy of its readings outdoors and indoors, and concluded that this device was made from spruce branches, may well provide correct forecasts for the next few days...
In the course of my research, the goal was achieved and all the tasks were solved. The hypothesis was only partially confirmed. A natural barometer gives accurate readings only if it is located in natural conditions, i.e. on the street.
This topic interested me and I decided that I would continue my observations. I would like to make sure for myself that a spruce branch gives correct readings at any time of the year, and not just in winter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Voynich A., Herceg E. One swallow does not make spring...: Transl. from Hungarian - M.: Mir, 1985.
2. Genkel P.A. Physiology of plants: Textbook. manual for electives. course for IX grade - 3rd ed., revised. - M.: Education, 1985.
3. Spruce branch. http://www.fozet.com.
4. Zverev M.D. The Christmas tree is the best barometer // “Science and Religion” - No. 12, 2001 - pp. 27-31
5. Komkova M. Weather predictor plants. http://rfos-oficial.narod.ru.
6. Nedelyaev K.N.// “Nature”, No. 4 – 2005.
Not everyone has a barometer, but the weather forecast is useful for both summer residents and tourists.
The simplest barometer is easy to make with your own hands from very improvised means.
The weather is predicted homemade spruce-fir barometers
Hunters in Siberia have long noticed that the branches of coniferous trees lower before rain or snow and rise before clear weather. This ability is also preserved in dry spruce branches, which makes it possible to make from them the simplest, long-lasting barometers.
Barometer made of fir branch and needle. Cut a branch from a young fir or pine tree. Separate from it a piece 10 cm long with a thin long needle growing on the side. Now take a flat board or plywood measuring 150x100 mm and nail the prepared piece of fir to it so that the needle can move freely.
The barometer is ready. It just needs to be calibrated. Bring the device to a hot stove or stove - the heat will cause the needle to straighten and rise up.
Where it stops, take a risk. Then bring the device to the stream of steam escaping from the spout of the kettle. When exposed to moisture, the needle will drop down. Here mark the second line. Connect the marks with an arc and divide into several equal parts. It remains to make the appropriate inscriptions, as in the figure.
Barometer install it in a place protected from direct sunlight, and it will predict the weather for you.
Barometer made from a spruce branch. To make a barometer from a spruce branch, you need to take a 25-30 cm section of a dry tree trunk along with a 30-35 cm branch (the longer the branch, the more sensitive the barometer will be), peel it from the bark and attach the sawn part of the trunk to a plank. It can be hung on a wall or on a window frame.
The branch should be in such a state that when its free end is lowered down (before bad weather) and raised up (in clear weather), it moves parallel to the screen wall without touching it.
For convenience, a plywood or metal scale with divisions of 1 cm is attached to a board near the branch ring - “arrows”. After some time, when the branch begins to show its capabilities, the indicators “clear”, “variable”, “rain” can be marked on the scale. , just like on a regular barometer.
Such homemade barometers can predict the weather 12 hours in advance.
There are many folk signs that allow you to determine what the weather will be like tomorrow. Here are just a few of them:
The weather will improve tomorrow -
1) if cumulus clouds appear in the morning and disappear by the evening;
2) if in the evening after bad weather the sun comes out and there are no clouds in the western part of the sky;
3) if smoke from a fire or chimneys rises upward in a column;
4) if cumulus clouds move across the sky in the same direction as the wind near the ground;
5) if the night is quiet and cool, and the moon sets in a clear sky.
The weather will get worse tomorrow -
1) if the wind does not subside in the evening, but intensifies;
2) if cumulus clouds appear in the morning, which by noon will take the form of high towers or mountains;
3) if clouds of all types are visible in the sky at the same time: cumulus, “lamb”, cirrus and wavy;
4) if smoke from a fire or from chimneys spreads along the ground.
If you were at home and did not observe what was happening outside the window last night, you may need a barometer to predict the weather.
You can use nature's hints, or you can try to make a barometer with your own hands. Next, we will present several methods for making simple barometers, found during the study of the magazines “Lefty” and the supplement “For Skilled Hands” to the magazine “Young Technician”.
Barometer made from a light bulb.
You need to take an electric light bulb, and where the base with the threaded part begins, carefully drill a small hole with a diameter of 2-3 mm. This should be done very carefully, otherwise the container may crack or break.
The easiest way to drill glass: apply a drop of machine or sunflower oil to the point where you marked the hole; take abrasive powder from medium-grain sandpaper and add it to a drop of oil to make a viscous paste, slightly thinner than toothpaste; clamp the copper wire in the drill chuck (its diameter should correspond to the size of the hole you want to drill); Gently clamp the lamp base in a vice, and wrap the glass bulb in a towel or rag.
Drill the hole carefully using minimal force. Pour tap water into it, filling the glass flask halfway, then add two or three drops of ink or a piece of chemical pencil lead to it and stir - the barometer is ready.
When the inner wall of the flask is dry, you can hang the barometer between the window frames, and preferably on the north side, where it will not be exposed to direct sunlight. If the windows face south, install it at the top of the window and after a few hours you can take readings. The barometer can predict the weather a day in advance quite completely. Continuous or partly cloudy weather awaits us, whether the heat sets in, or there will be a light lingering short-term rain, maybe a thunderstorm...
You need to know some features in order to decipher the readings of such a barometer:
1) the inner walls of the light bulb are covered with small drops of condensed water - tomorrow it will be completely cloudy, but without precipitation.
2) the walls of the light bulb were covered with drops of medium size, and vertical dry stripes formed between them - partly cloudy.
3) if the walls are partially covered with large drops of dew, expect short-term precipitation.
4) from top to bottom and the drops, enlarged, flow down - there will be a thunderstorm.
5) large drops are only at the surface of the water, and the neck of the light bulb is dry - the rain will pass away, 30-60 km from your place.
6) it’s raining outside the window, and the walls of the light bulb have become completely dry, without fog or droplets - tomorrow the weather will be excellent.
7) if dew drops appear only on the north side of the cylinder, expect rain tomorrow afternoon.
You can use such a barometer only if the air temperature is above zero, that is, in spring, summer and early autumn.
Pine cone barometer.
Wood, leather, other organic materials, even our hair are sensitive to any changes in weather conditions - in humid air, hair becomes longer, skin becomes softer, and wood changes volume... For example, in the rain, the scales of a pine cone press closer together, and in dry weather, on the contrary, they open up, causing the cone to become ruffly.
This property can be used to make a simple barometer that predicts the weather several hours in advance. To make a barometer you will need two smooth wooden planks for the base and side. Connect them with glue, strengthening them with small nails, as shown in the figure, cut out a scale from thick paper, draw divisions and two signs on it: the sun and an umbrella, attach a large dry pine cone to the base at the very side. Glue a still dry blade of grass with a paper arrow at the end to one of its lower scales.
Install a barometer on the balcony or outside the window - and, please, with high accuracy, it will tell you whether to take an umbrella with you that day.
Barometer from a photographic plate.
Another amazing barometer design for those who are interested in photography.
Find a black and white negative of a landscape that shows both water and vegetation, take a glass photographic plate and expose the negative to it. Then develop and immediately after washing, dip for 15 minutes in a 10% solution of cobalt nitrate, bypassing the washing stage, dry the plate and carefully paint over the trees, shrubs and grass depicted on it from the emulsion side with a thin layer of porous, easily permeable yellow paint, for example, watercolors or gouache. After the paint has dried, frame the plate - the weather barometer is ready, and in order not to damage the fragile layers of emulsion and paint, place it between the glass of the window frame.
The sky and water on the photographic plate will turn blue, and the vegetation will turn green when dry weather approaches, but as soon as the weather worsens, the image on the plate will fade: the sky and water will turn gray, and the leaves and grass will turn yellow. The principle of operation of such a barometer is based on the fact that cobalt nitrate crystals deposited on the photoemulsion layer change their color depending on air humidity: with a high moisture content they become colorless, and in dry weather they become blue in those places that are covered with paint. two colors - yellow and blue - mix to form green.
This simple barometer predicts the weather quite accurately.
Barometer made from a fir or pine branch.
To make such a barometer, you need to cut a branch from a young fir or pine tree. Then separate from it a 10 cm long piece with a thin long needle growing on the side. Then take a flat board or plywood measuring 150x100 mm and nail the prepared piece of fir to it so that the needle can move freely (see figure) - the barometer is ready. You just need to calibrate it: bring the device to a hot stove or stove - the heat will cause the needle to straighten and rise up, where it stops, make a mark; bring the device to the stream of steam escaping from the spout of the kettle - the needle will go down due to moisture, mark the second line here. Connect the marks with an arc and divide them into several equal parts; all that remains is to make the appropriate inscriptions, as in the figure.
Mount the barometer on a stand with a vertical ruler; you can calibrate it by taking readings from a real barometer.
You can also use any small glass bottle instead of a metal container; after filling it with colored water and installing the stopper with a tube, add a little water into the tube. Since the barometer body is rigid, when pressure increases, the water level will decrease, and when pressure decreases, it will increase.
HOW TO MAKE A BAROMETER YOURSELF.
No one expects this fun craft to be a precision instrument. But in vain! Predictions made with its help can be very accurate. You just need to get used to it.
Siberian hunters have long noticed that the branches of coniferous trees lower before rain or snow and rise before clear weather. This ability is also preserved in dry spruce branches, which makes it possible to make simple, long-lasting barometers from them.
After the holidays, before throwing away the New Year tree, saw off part of the stem (about 25-30 cm) with a long thin knot (30-35 cm). The longer the knot, the more sensitive the “device” will be. Thoroughly clean both the trunk fragment and the knot from bark. Now place the “device” outside, somewhere on the north side, so that direct rays of the sun do not fall on it. On the eve of dry and clear weather, the knot will rise, and in cloudy and damp weather it will fall. And all you have to do is draw a humidity scale and mark the position of the branch that predicts rain...
For convenience, a plywood or metal scale with divisions of 1 cm is attached to a board near the “arrow” branch. After some time, when the branch begins to show its capabilities, the indicators “clear”, “variable”, “rain” can be marked on the scale. like a regular barometer.
