Check it out!

Squeaks and I built a well! A well is something you can use to get water from deep under the ground.

The Fort already has one, but we wanted to make a smaller version that works the same way, bringing water from one place to another using science. And you can make one, too! We’ll show you how we did it, and why it works.

Are you ready, Squeaks? [Squeaks squeaks affirmatively]. All you’ll need is a cup, some rocks, water, a bottle of soap with a pump top, and a grown-up to help out. If you want, you can also add food coloring to the water so you can see it more easily.

What color should we use this time, Squeaks? [Squeaks answers]. Ooh Great suggestion! We’ll use Sky Blue!

Okay, now we’re ready to start. First, place your rocks in your cup or jar, until its about halfway full. And now fill it half way full of water.

And now we’ll add the food coloring. This cup will act like the earth, with water hiding deep underground between all of the bits of rock and dirt. Make sure to wash all the soap off your pump like we have and put it in the jar, so that the pipe part touches the water.

OK, Squeaks, now we have to prime the pump. That just means pumping it a few times, until there’s enough water inside the smaller section at the top, called the storage chamber, for it to work. To make sure I don’t make a mess, I’m going to put a cup under my pump first.

When I push down on the pump, it forces some air out. You can see that there’s air in the bubble from the leftover soap. Then, when I let go, it pulls some of the water up through the pipe and into the storage chamber.

It’s a lot like sucking on a straw, except you’re doing it with the pump instead of your mouth. As we keep pumping, more and more water goes up the pipe, and when the storage chamber is full, that means the pump is primed. Before, when we pushed down on the pump, air came out.

But now that it’s primed, let’s see what happens. Look at that, we’ve created our very own well! [Squeaks points out that they don’t need to pump the Fort’s well to make it work]. That’s a good observation, Squeaks.

We don’t need to pump the Fort’s well with our hands to get water from the sink. Which is nice, because that would be a lot of work! Instead, many wells use an electric pump to do the same job.

Instead of someone pumping the well by hand, a machine does it automatically, using the same motions to pump water up through the pipes and into the storage chamber. As long as the storage chamber stays full, whenever I turn on a faucet that’s connected to the chamber, water will come out. This means that instead of going out to pump a well whenever I need water, I can have a machine do it while I do other things, like experiments with my best buddy. [Squeaks checks who that is].

Of course that’s you, Squeaks! I love learning about science and machines with you. What should we try next?

Should we use our well to pump something like juice or milk? Do you think it’ll work with something thick like syrup? If you try this out for yourself, let us know what you learn from your experiments!

Ask a grown-up to help you leave a comment below, or send us an email at kids@scishow.com. We’ll see you next time, here at the Fort.