Originally Posted by Dr. Smith

Living proof of that right here! (Junior Science Geek ) My 3rd (or 4th?) grade class had a hurricane machine in the classroom (built by some parent/science teacher, I presume; I've never seen another like it). It was a glassed-in cabinet ~2' x 2' x 4'h, with a lightbulb in the top and a pizza pan at the bottom. The idea was to fill the pizza pan with salt water (representing the ocean) and by heating it up via the lightbulb (representing the Sun), a small vortex (Coriolis Effect and EVERYTHING!) was created inside the cabinet. It was barely perceptable, so they introduced a small amount of smoke (lit cigarette - it was the '60s - Don't smoke, kids - this is SCIENCE!) to make it more visible. They could really get that little thing crankin'. Of course as soon as anyone opened the door to the cabinet, it disturbed the delicate balance and the small-scale hurricane went POOF!

Doc