01 · HANDS IN THE JAR
Pick a tool and drag inside the jar · right-drag erases · Space pauses · [ ] resize the brush · keyboard? Tab to the jar, arrows move, Enter drops · or just leave it open in a tab.
DAY 1 · 08:24
Reduced motion detected — the jar starts paused.
02 · BRUSH
[ shrinks · ] grows
03 · TIME
One jar day lasts two minutes at 1×. The jar pauses itself while this tab is hidden.
04 · JAR
SEED 00000000
The link carries the whole jar — every grain, drop and root. Your jar is also saved in this browser.
05 · WATER CYCLE
- POOLS & DEW
- SOIL
- PLANTS
- VAPOR
06 · FIELD NOTES
A toy model. Each rule below is a simplified version of what the linked source describes; the rates are invented for pacing, not measured.
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Evaporation needs energy (heat). In the jar, water and wet soil only evaporate while the sun is up.
Source: USGS Water Science School — Evaporation and the Water Cycle
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Leaves release water vapor through their stomata, and transpiration rises with sunlight and temperature. Here, sunlit leaves with spare sap breathe out vapor.
Source: USGS Water Science School — Evapotranspiration and the Water Cycle
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Condensation turns water vapor back into liquid on cool surfaces, like a cold glass. Here, vapor touching the glass beads as dew, mostly at night, and the drops run back down.
Source: USGS Water Science School — Condensation and the Water Cycle
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Seeds need the right temperature, moisture, air and light conditions to germinate, and most germinate best in the dark. Here, seeds sprout on moist soil in the warmth of the day, even under a thin cover, but never under water: a floating seed drifts ashore first.
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Using energy from the Sun, plants combine carbon dioxide and water into sugar. Here, a shoot pushes up through the soil by day; above ground, a stem grows toward the light only while its tip is sunlit and fed with sap.
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Earthworm burrows improve soil aeration, infiltration and drainage; worms feed on plant residue and roots often follow their burrows. Here, worm tunnels leave loose, crumbly soil that soaks up water faster and that roots grow into more easily.
Source: USDA NRCS — Soil Quality Indicators: Earthworms (PDF)
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Bacteria and fungi decompose plant residue, and their activity depends on moisture and temperature; decay returns water and carbon dioxide to the air. Here, dead matter soaks up moisture and slowly breathes out vapor (slower still when dry); only while the jar has lost soil does some of it crumble back into soil.
Source: USDA NRCS — Soil Tech Note 11A: Biological Underground Community (PDF) · NASA Earth Observatory — The Carbon Cycle