This Kid Knows More About Tornadoes Than You

I have a deep, abiding love for Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson, but this 5-year-old child might just be my new favorite science communicator. His name is Oliver Shafer, he loves science, and a video of this charming kid making a tornado in a jar somehow manages to be both educational and brain-meltingly adorable at the same time. Who knew science could be so freaking cute?

In an episode of a show he titles “Oliver’s Science Lab,” Oliver teaches viewers how to make a tornado in a jar using common household items and chemicals, including water, vinegar, dish soap, and food coloring. According to his dad, Cody Shafer, most of the video came straight from Oliver. “We don’t really tell him what to say,” he told the Huffington Post. “We talk about some ideas first, and we went over some tornado facts, and my wife helped him through all the steps so he didn’t break anything. But other than that, we just let him do his own thing.”

Oliver, clad in a lab coat and glasses (for safety, but also MAXIMUM CUTE), demonstrates the simple process of making a tornado in a jar: You start by filling a jar with water, and then add a teaspoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of dish soap. Twist on the lid, move the jar in circles, and BAM! Baby tornado!

Oliver also shares important facts about tornados, from how they form (“Tornadoes form when warm rising air and cold air mix together, forming a funnel.”) to how they are classified.

For a 5-year-old, Oliver has quite the turn of phrase. At one point, he explains, “Tornados dance. That’s how they destroy stuff.” Dear child, that is both true and surprisingly poetic.

Guys, it’s too cute. I CAN’T HANDLE IT.

Ahem.

Oliver finishes with a perfectly succinct closing line: He concludes, eloquently, “Science. Science. I’m done.”

What more is there to say? Watch the video, above.

Images: YouTube (4)