How to Turn a Tea Bag into a Floating Ghost

Want to see a tea bag float up in the air and disappear like a little ghost? All you need is a tea bag, scissors, a marker and a lighter. Keep reading for step-by-step instructions with photos.

How to Make a Tea Bag Ghost

This was a fun little project that may or may not be responsible for my son asking to set more things on fire.

First, you need a tea bag. I tried several different brands and found they all didn’t work. You need the kind that is folded over, so you are able to snip off the ends, open it up and dump out the tea.

See the example in the photo below.

Once you have an empty tea bag, draw a little face on it.

It’s just more fun that way.

Then find a nonflammable surface to set it on. Also make sure it’s an open area because it may float up pretty high and you don’t want to set anything else on fire.

The last step is to light the top of the “ghost” on fire and watch him float away. It may go just a few feet or way up in the air, but it will then disappear in a poof!

Watch Your Ghost Float

As the tea bag burns, it creates smoke. The rising hot air from the burning tea bag creates convection currents. These currents lift the lightweight ash particles and the tea bag, making it look like a floating ghost.

This experiment is a demonstration of convection, where the hot air rises, creating a flow that lifts the lightweight ash particles and the tea bag along with it.

It took us a few tries to get it to work, but when it did it was pretty neat!