instructables

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!

by RyanMake

//www.youtube.com/embed/mYl7LtL36kk

In the right environment with enough temperature variation Storm Glasses provide and impressive crystal formation
show that looks like fog or snow! Changes in temperature impact the how the storm glass uid forms fog and snow like
crystals out of camphor that is in suspension. The rate that the temperature changes and the amount of solvent impacts
what sort of crystals that are formed changing how the storm glass looks.

All of this work on storm glasses got me thinking and eventually searching for what the largest storm glass I could nd
and I was very disappointed. The largest storm glass I have seen is a tear drop shape that is only 10 inches tall and 4
inches in diameter that is probably only a few hundred milliliters or maybe the 750mL version that NightHawkInLight
made in one of his videos. Why is there no larger option out there? How large am I talking? There are no 7000mL options
out there and so the only way I knew how to get something 10 times bigger is to make it myself.

Since we are talking about snow ake-like (Read that unique) ideas one of the many thoughts that I had was that they
look an awful lot like a snow globe but way cooler it it has its own active weather system. What if you made a snow globe
out of a storm glass?!?! This seems like a super awesome fusion creating an active snow globe that changes based on its
environment and it snows on the scene without ever moving!

I immediately set to making this giant storm glass that I could place a winter scene inside of to make it look like a huge
snow globe. To do this properly I need over a gallon of storm glass mixture. This meant I needed to nd out just how to
make a storm glass as e ectively as possible so that I could a ord to scale it up. My research for nding a more cost
e ective mixture is in a di erent intstructable where I go through all sorts of recipes including how I made a $2 storm
glass. Check it out!

Through this process I tested many recipes which I have not found anywhere else on the internet to come up with a
solution that let me make this giant storm glass with the highest level of con dence that it would work great! All told I
made with giant weather predicting snow globe for right under $100!!!

So since you are here now and you likely have no place to go then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

FTC Disclaimer: I earn a percentage of the sales through the a liate links provided through Amazon. If you click on the
link it helps fund future projects but bear in mind it might not be the best price for these materials.

Supplies:

Materials

530 grams of Camphor

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 7 Liters 40% or 50% Ethanol (Vodka either 80 or 100 proof and this comes out to four 1.75L handles)
2 Gallon Glass Jar
3D Printed Cottage or Ceramic Ornament Cottage
200 grams of Potassium Nitrate
200 grams of Ammonium Chloride
3" of Alien Tape
I tried everything: Duct Tape, Double-sided Duck Tape, Command Strips. None of them
worked but this stu worked perfect at keeping the battery connected to the lid.

Battery Powered Fairy Lights

Warm White
Multi-Colored with Remote!!!

Tools

Sous Vide
Large Stock Pot
3D Printer
3D Printer Filament

Step 1: How Do They Work?

I have another Instructable that goes in depth into how storm glasses work and how I settled on the ethanol based
recipe that I am using since it is di erent from what I have typically seen.

I am wanting to stay on point so if you have questions about how I came up with the recipe please check out my other
instructable here: https://www.instructables.com/2-Storm-Glass-Guide/

I will give a quick explanation.

The camphor is dissolved into the liquid which is an solvent made from alcohol and water. When the temperature of the
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liquid changes the saturation of the liquid changes. As the temperature gets colder the liquid is able to hold less and less
dissolved material to the point where the liquid starts to release the camphor which forms crystals as it comes out of the
liquid. Check out hte solubility graph in the pictures where when the temperature of the solvent drops below a key point
it can no longer hold as much material in solution or it can not keep the material dissolved. The result is that the material
starts to do something called precipitate out just like how rain is call precipitation in that it is coming out of the air and
forming the rain. The storm glass does the same thing only it is the camphor that is in solution in the alcohol and as it
precipitates out it forms crystals that can look like fog or small snow akes or even large beautiful crystals.

It is these large crystals that you can see in the fourth picture that more easily form in the ethanol that resulted in me
choosing to ethanol over methanol.

When the temperature goes back up the crystals dissolve back into the liquid and disappear.

So how would one read a storm glass to predict the weather once you have one? Well what I have found is the following
for the di erent features that could occur in your storm glass and what they are suppose to mean.

One interesting thing is that Camphor has a melting point well above boiling and yet it is so soluble in alcohols that it will
dissolve into the alcohol even at room temperature!

Clear Liquid: Bright and clear.

Cloudy Liquid: Cloudy as well, with a chance of precipitation.
Small dots in the liquid: Humid or foggy weather can be expected.
Cloudy glass with small stars: Thunderstorms.
Small stars on sunny winter days: Snow
Large akes throughout the liquid: Overcast in temperate seasons or snowy in the winter.
Crystals at the bottom: Frost.
Threads near the top: Windy.

Ok. Hopefully you have opened the other instructable to get a better understanding so that we can move onto the rest
of the build.

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 3

Step 2: Selecting the Container

I had all sorts thoughts about what I wanted to use for this container. Maybe a sh tank? Maybe a giant mason jar? Maybe
a big glass storage jar?

There were many options but most of them were either a little too small (~1 gallon) or they were getting too big (3-5
gallons). The other factor besides the size that was a key decision making factor was if the container could be sealed to
stop evaporation of the solvent and the opening had to be large enough to t the cottage/house i wanted inside. I nally
found this great option that was 2 gallons.

What sealed the deal for me was that I needed to be able to t my winter scene in through the opening in the top. I was
originally very disappointed in that the premade houses that I had bought from the craft store were both just fractions of
an inch to big to t into the container, but I will get into that in the next step.

The at bottom and the 5" diameter opening in the top gave me the most options I could nd while keeping with the
curved side look I was after. Getting this jar ordered helped me be able to wrap my head around what sort of scene I
could t into the container.

Picking a 2 gallon container de ned how much alcohol solvent and camphor I needed. I am planning on about having
about 1.5 gallons or about 7 liters of solution. I am going o the recipe that I settled on for the Ethanol in my $2 Storm
Glass instructable of 16 grams of camphor for each 200mL of alcohol solution.

This meant gathering the following materials for the cook:

7 liters of 40% Ethanol (~$40)

530 Grams of Camphor (Pretty much 1.25lb of Camphor) {~$20-25)
100 grams of Potassium Nitrate
100 grams of Ammonium Chloride

Now if you read through my $2 Storm Glass instructable you may be wondering why I went with Ethanol even though I
Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 4
could make it so much cheaper with Methanol. Well this is where engineering decision comes in where you need to
weigh the options. While the Methanol is cheaper it has a di erent appearance in the its crystal formation that while
really fun when you see the absolute white out of snow it will obstruct the winter scene a little too much. I talk about this
a little bit in the previous step. So after searching I found some really cheap ethanol that I am using for this project. (Also
my wife's opinion matters a lot to me and she told me that she prefers how the Ethanol looks.)

You also may be wondering why I am using the Potassium Nitrate and Ammonium Chloride since the 40mL and the
200mL storm glasses did not need them. Well this is an interesting lesson that things doe not always remain constant and
one thing I learned after testing this project with out the Potassium Nitrate and Ammonium Chloride for multiple days
with out it working that while they are not part of the crystals themselves they dramatically in uence the clarity of the
solution and how the crystals formed.

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Step 3: Gathering Materials

With the dimensions decided it is time to gather the materials

1. 530 grams of Camphor (Second and Third Pictures)

1. I chopped it up using a cutting board and kitchen knife to make it dissolve faster during the
cooking process.
2. Watch your ngers and make sure you wash the knife and cutting board thoroughly

2. Buy or print your house! (Pictures 4 through 7 plus the STL File)
1. I ended up printing my house because I found this great le on Thingiverse and none of the
houses at the local craft store t.
2. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4216386/ les
3. I talk about this more in the next step.

3. 2 Gallon Jar (Pictures 8 & 9)

4. 7 Liters of 80 Proof Vodka (Picture 10)
5. Fairy/String Lights for the house. (Pictures 11 & 12)
6. 100 grams of Ammonium Chloride
7. 100 grams of Potassium Nitrate

Once all of the materials are collected I moved onto to nishing my winter scene.

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 6

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 7
Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 8
 View in 3D Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FQA/PNNG/KIRFCHCY/FQAPNNGKIRFCHCY.stl

Step 4: Setting the Scene. Winter Scene That Is!!

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I looked around for ceramic gures to create a beautiful winter scene in my storm glass terrarium!

This involved a quick trip to a local craft store. There are two big factors in selecting your winter scene:

1. Does the scene t? This is where I ran into problems with what I had available so I ended up deciding to
print my scene on a 3D Printer
2. Is the object going to resist the alcohol and camphor rich environment?

I was looking for house gurines that had lights inside but sadly the options I found all ended up being too big but
maybe you have better luck. I ended up nding a really great house model on Thingiverse at the link here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4216386/ les

On top of this I was able to ll the house with remote control fairy lights that can change colors and have a timer all of
which can be controlled by remote meaning I can control the lights without ever opening the container!

I made the mistake of not printing a hole in the chimney so I had to drill one out to be able to feed the lights through the
chimney.

Placing the gurines around the bottom of the winter terrarium was a lot of fun with the lights inside. I am using Velcro
command strips to hold the battery pack to the lid of the container.

NOTE: I ended up having to re-print the cottage after I took these phots because there was an error in the le that made
the roof pop o the top of the house. As a result I reinforced the walls in TinkerCAD and added the hole through the
chimney. The le is in the previous step.

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 10

Giant Weather Predicting Storm Globe!!!: Page 11
Step 5: A Storm Is Brewing!

Now it is time to make the Storm Glass recipe to ll up evaporation.

the terrarium!
Also add the following:
Starting with a large stock pot. 100 grams of Ammonium Chloride

Add 7 liters of Vodka (Four 1.75 liter Handles) to the 2
gallon jar
Next add between 500 - 560 grams of camphor. I had
532 grams on hand so that is what I used.
I chopped up the camphor to make it dissolve faster so
that I would lose less of the ethanol mixture to
100 grams of Potassium Nitrate
Slowly heat the concoction using a sous vide water bath
in the 16 quart stock pot with the lid on the jar until the
camphor is fully dissolved. Having the lid on is important
to reduce the loss of the solvent due to evaporation.

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Step 6: Finish the Build and Seal It Up

Be careful in removing the jar because it is hot. Mine was heated to 145F and it is heavy and wet all the perfect storm to
drop it, have it shatter and make a mess everywhere. No one needs that type of natural disaster from their weather
prediction globe.

It is good to be careful for a whole host of reasons

1. The container is hot and the liquid is hot and waxy you could burn yourself
2. The alcohol is ammable and should be treated with respect.
3. The container is slippery.

Once it is out of the pot give it a stir to mix it all in and then lower the house using the wire for the lights.

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Depending on what container you have there might be a need to make sure that the container has an airtight seal to
manage the evaporation. Thankfully my container has a simple screw on lid that is up to the task.
I placed the battery pack for my fairy lights on the inside of the lid so that it would be hidden but the control signals
could still pass through the glass. This is where the screw top on the top of the 2 gallon jar I selected really comes in
handy because it is easy to get access to the battery compartment to change the batteries when they die.

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Step 7: Sit Back and Enjoy

//www.youtube.com/embed/mYl7LtL36kk

Place it in a location that experiences temperature swings such as a window and enjoy the slowly developing show as
the snow and fog comes and goes around your own Thomas Kinkade winter scene.

The general thoughts for how to interpret you observe in the glass for weather prediction are as follows:

Clear Liquid: Bright and clear.

Cloudy Liquid: Cloudy as well, with a chance of precipitation.
Small dots in the liquid: Humid or foggy weather can be expected.
Cloudy glass with small stars: Thunderstorms.
Small stars on sunny winter days: Snow
Large akes throughout the liquid: Overcast in temperate seasons or snowy in the winter.
Crystals at the bottom: Frost.
Threads near the top: Windy.

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Step 8: Summary Thoughts!

It is always fun to get to gure out a new way of doing and approaching with a fully open mind that is not
things. Learning through this process has been both blocked up with how things have been done or should
frustrating and rewarding. The feeling of have a project be done and it can be amazing what new possibilities
that you have spent a bunch of money on and days of start tumbling out when the old blinders have been
e ort not working out can be nerve racking but it is removed.
important to not give up to keep pushing and try and
nd new ways of doing things but still at the same time What sort of scene would you like to see inside of a
not sco at the old ways because they how a lot of storm globe?
learning too.
If you like this project that I would ask that you consider
Where are you stuck and looking for di erent solutions following me here on instructable and on my youtube
to what seems like the same old problems or questions? channel. Your support makes these projects possible.
What are some of the ways that you have tried to solve
those things and come up short? Try taking a step back
If this works from temperature, does it work well indoors? Also more importantly, I now have a
valid excuse to purchase a large quantity of vodka.
It is important to have it near a window where it experiences some good temperature swings such
as cold at night and then warm in the sun during the day.
If you make this once the camphor is in the vodka please do not drink it. I am pretty sure
camphor is toxic to ingest.

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