Sunshine in the Rain

Billy and Charlotte had to walk Freckles and Pierre early, because it was supposed to rain soon.
"I wish it wouldn't rain," Billy said when they got back to the house. "I wanted to go for a long bike ride today, but if it starts to rain, I'll get wet. The rain is cold."

"We need the rain, Billy," Charlotte said. "The rain helps the plants grow and lets us wash things and gives us water to pretend to drink."
"But my teacher told us the earth is mostly covered with water," Billy said. "Why do we need any more?"
"That's almost all in the oceans, Billy," Charlotte explained, "and it's salty."
"What's wrong with salty?" Billy asked.
"I'm not sure," Charlotte answered. "Let's ask Mandy."

The dolls found Mandy in the living room window. She was knitting. She looked up when the dolls came in.

"Mandy," Charlotte began, "Billy and I have a question about the oceans."
"Yes," agreed Billy. "We have so much water in the oceans, why can't we use it to drink and to water our plants?"

"That's easy," Mandy replied. "People's bodies need salt, but too much salt will make them sick. The water in the oceans is very salty, much too salty to drink safely. You can taste it and even cook with it, but you can't drink it, because you will get too much salt. It would make the plants sick, too."

"That's too bad," Charlotte said. "There's so much of it! It's too bad we can't use it."

But we do use it," Mandy exclaimed. "That's where our drinking water comes from, and the water we use to wash things and bathe, and to water our plants, but the sun takes the salt out first."

Mandy put down her knitting as Charlotte and Billy looked at each other in surprise.

"Come into the kitchen," Mandy said, "and I'll show you how it works."
Mandy led the two dolls into the kitchen. Jolena was there. She had been looking in the pantry to see what was needed so she could make a grocery list.

"Jolena, I need a glass cake pan," Mandy said. "We are going to see how the sun takes the salt out of the water from the ocean."
"I would like to see, too," Jolena exclaimed, pulling out a cake pan from the cupboard."

"You can use a metal pan for this," Mandy explained, "but I want to use glass, so we can see what's happening. Now we need some other things." Mandy asked Jolena for a small dish that would fit inside the cake pan, some salt, a spoon, a cup of warm water and some plastic wrap.
Jolena knows where everything is in the kitchen, so she found everything Mandy needed.
Mandy filled the cup Jolena gave her with warm water. Then she asked the dolls to help her pour the water into the cake pan.

Next, Mandy had Jolena put a half teaspoon of salt into the water and stir it.

Then Mandy asked Billy to place the smaller dish into the cake pan, right about in the middle.

Finally, Mandy and Jolena worked together to cover the whole thing with plastic wrap.

"We need one more thing," Mandy said. "We need something to weigh down the plastic wrap, but only right in the middle, over the smaller dish."
"There are plenty of rocks outside," Billy suggested.
"Rocks will be great," Mandy agreed. "We're going outside anyway. Now please help me take the pan outside."
Each doll took a corner of the cake pan. They worked together to carry the dish outside and place it on the deck. Then Mandy told them to put some small rocks in the middle of the plastic wrap, right over where the small dish was.

"Now we wait," Mandy said. "The sun will do the same thing here that it does when it shines on the ocean."

"But it's supposed to rain soon," Billy said.
"Yes," Jolena agreed, "and this place will be in the shade in a little while."

"That's OK," Mandy told them. "As long as the sun is in the sky, this will work. It just works faster if it's bright sunshine. People use the sun to make electricity, too, and that still works as long as it's daylight," she said. "When we use the power of the sun to work for us," Mandy added, "it's called solar power."

"Hey!" Billy cried. "The sun has a superpower!"

The other dolls nodded in agreement.
"That reminds me! Jolena exclaimed. "We need to make more iced tea. I always use the sun to make it."
"How do you do that?" Charlotte asked. "I like your iced tea."
"I just put some tea bags in a jar with some water," Jolena explained. "Then I leave it in the sun, but Mandy's right. It will work in the shade, as long as the sun is in the sky."

"I have used the sun to dye yarn," Mandy added. "It works the same way as making tea."

"Now," Mandy went on, "we can come back in a couple of hours and check to see what has happened."
The dolls all went indoors to do their homework or read. Mandy went back to her knitting.
Two hours later, Mandy told the other dolls it was time to check their pan of water. When they went back to where they had left the pan, they saw that there was now some water in the little dish.

"How did that get there?" Billy asked.
"It rained in the little dish," Mandy explained. "This is what happens with the ocean, or anywhere there is water. Water is a liquid, like milk or the stuff you use to blow bubbles. When it's warmed by the sun, the water on the surface evaporates (ee-VAH-per-ates). That means it turns into a gas, and mixes with the air over it. In fact, there is water in the air all around us all the time. When enough water gets together in the air, it turns into clouds."
"So how did it rain in the dish?" Charlotte asked.

"The same way it rains on the earth," Mandy said. "The plastic wrap keeps the air in the cake pan from getting out. That traps the sun's heat inside, so the air outside the pan is cooler than the air inside. When some of the water in the air touches the cooler plastic wrap, it turns back into liquid. We call that condensation (con-den-SAY-shun). When there is enough water, it gets heavier and runs down to the lowest spot, where the rocks makes the plastic wrap lower. Then it drops into the little dish."

"That's because of gravity," Billy said. "Gravity makes the water roll down the inside of the plastic wrap."
"That's right," Mandy agreed.
"So why does it rain here where we live, instead of just over the ocean?" Jolena wanted to know.

"Can anyone guess?" Mandy asked. "Think about how the clouds are made of water."
The other three dolls all though about it.
"Maybe the wind blows the clouds over the land," Charlotte suggested. "If you watch the clouds you can see them move."

"That's right, Charlotte," Mandy agreed. "Now what kind of water did we have in the cake pan?" she asked.
"Salty water," said Billy.
"Like the ocean," agreed Charlotte.
"Let's taste it," Mandy suggested, "and see if it's still salty. Just stick your finger in and lick the water off it."
The dolls all dipped their fingers into the water in the cake pan and tasted it.

"It's still salty," Jolena said.
The other dolls agreed with Jolena.
"Now let's taste the water in the little dish," Mandy said.
The dolls took turns tasting the water in the little dish.

"It isn't salty at all," Charlotte said.
They all agreed with Charlotte.
"So the sun moved the water from the pan to the little dish and left the salt behind?" Jolena asked.
"Yes," Mandy agreed.
"So we could just make as much water as we need from the ocean," Jolena said.
"That would be a lot of trouble," Billy pointed out. "That was a lot of work for not very much water."

"There are other ways to remove salt from sea water," Mandy said, "and there are big factories some places in the world where fresh water is scarce," but it's easier if we can get it from rain."

Again, all the dolls agreed.
Suddenly a drop of water fell onto Billy's head. He looked up. "Look!" Billy cried. "It's starting to rain! Isn't that wonderful? I love the rain!"

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

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Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

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