What Causes Tornados
December 21, 2010 by James Hewson
Filed under Thunderstorms and Lightning, Weird Stuff
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms and is categorized as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. Typically tornados appear as rotating, funnel like clouds which extends from within a thunderstorm to the ground. Pretty to look at but devastating on nature with severe winds which can reach speeds of 300 miles per hour. Studies have shown that Tornadoes are more likely to form between the hours of 3pm and 9pm although it the results are caveated in that tornados can occur at any time and occasionally, tornadoes develop so quickly that little, if any at all, advance warning is possible.
The average advancing speed of a tornado is around 30mph however this can vary
significantly from an almost motionless speed to acceleration of up to 70mph in addition to rotating winds in excess of 250mph. If these forces of nature were not enough, a strong Tornados can also accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they begin to move onto land.
So what causes Tornados?
Tornados are caused by cold and warm air joining together violently including fronts, lows, highs, and prevailing wind patterns. The arch nemesis of the Tornado, the Supercell often forms from a regular thunderstorm, although can be generated independently. Supercells in contrast typically produce substantial amounts of rain, severe winds,
enormous air downdrafts, hail, as well as tornadoes themselves.
Tornado Watches
Tornado Watches and their immediate alerts signify that there is a potential of tornadoes forming in the local area. Individuals within a particular watch area when notified of a tornado should be ready to react quickly should a warning be issued or if they believe that a tornado is approaching. In most countries where tornados and
hurricanes are prevalent National Weather Services typically issue tornado
watches/alerts whenever tornadoes are possible within the local vicinity. Being prepared for these alerts is crucial and it is recommended that individuals whom reside in high risk areas should review their disaster plans to include the safety and location of family members, access to radio or televisions well before any alerts are issued.
Hurricanes
Under typically circumstances, ocean water needs to achieve a temperature above 79 degrees for a hurricane to form, as a consequence, Hurricanes generally develop during the late summer months into the early fall when atmospheric and water temperature conditions are at their optimal. Hurricanes and tropical storms can also help develop
microburst’s, and storm surges which is effectively a rapid rise in water levels which is generated from the winds pushing the water inland. These and storm surges which impact coastal regions, cause extensive damage from heavy rainfall. Although
immensely powerful a beautiful sight is the tranquil centre of a hurricane named the eye, this is one of the most
recognisable aspects of these storms being a very distinctive picture within the many satellite images taken during the storm seasons.
Storm Categories
- Category Five – sustained winds of 156mph +
- Category Four – sustained winds from 131 to 155mph
- Category Three – sustained winds of up to 111–130mph
- Category Two – sustained winds of up to 96–110mph
- Category One – sustained winds of up to 74–95mph
Faraday Cage and How To Protect Yourself From Lightning
July 19, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Thunderstorms and Lightning

- Image via Wikipedia
The Faraday cage is an electrical device intended to avert the passage of electromagnetic waves, either incorporating them in or prohibiting them from its interior space. In simple terms it describes how the lightning charge does not transport through the interior of a hollow vessel.
In physical terms, the Faraday box, cage or shield is a sizable metal enclosure that shields the interior of the cage from exterior electromagnetism. The modern day devices are able to almost completely cease an assault using electromagnetism such as an Electro Magnetic Pulse and are therefore, employed in a variety of security environments.
Faraday devices are named after the groundbreaking British physicist, Michael Faraday, one of the creators of modern electrical science. Faraday existed from 1791 to 1867 and is frequently deliberated to be the finest experimentalist in the range of electricity and magnetism. Faraday built the first device in 1836 to significant acclaim.
Although unknown to most the, principal protective measure we can all make from a lightning strike is to get or remain inside a Faraday cage, and it may surprise you to know that we all pretty much have access to one of these devices which is of course a motor car. Despite common perceptions around the rubber tyres from cars routing and thereby saving the lives of occupants is actually not down to the four rubber compound tyres but in fact, due to the existence of the Faraday cage within most vehicles (canvas topped convertibles being the majority exceptions).
Lightning discharges widely carry 50,000 amperes of charge at hundreds of thousands of volts. When a motor vehicle is hit by lightning, the metal frame comes to be a Faraday cage drawing the electricity away from the individuals inside.
The operation of the Faraday cage’s brilliance pivots on the fact that an external static electrical field will motivate the electrical charges within the enclosure’s conducting matter to reappropriate themselves to cancel the field’s effects within the enclosure’s core , in our example, the occupants of a vehicle. Over and above weak signal calculations, the shield is also practical for removing electrical interference, particularly line frequency noise and the most collective usage averts electronic apparatus from being disabled by lightning strikes.
If you are sheltering from a lightning strike without reservation the safest location is inside a Faraday cage and not under a tree as the urban legend suggests. Speaking of lightning striking tress, it is interesting to also point out that when a tree is struck by lightning it is not the actual lightning bolt which often ‘splits’ tress in half but in fact, a consequence of near instantaneous boiling of the tree’s water molecules (induced through the immense heat generated from the lightning) thereby fracturing and causing the splitting effect.
Entanglement – The Spooky Quantum
June 8, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Quantum Sciences
Entanglement is a creepy quantum result by way of particles becoming closely bound, so that quantifying a property on one, instantly influences the others no matter how much distance separates the two. It is however an intrinsic resource in quantum science, nicknamed ‘spooky action at a distance’ by Albert Einstein and is one of the properties of quantum mechanics that resulted in Einstein and other people to dislike the hypothesis.
Albert Einstein regarded the connection between two particles having contravened the relativity rule that information cannot journey quicker than the speed of light. Einstein was on no account pleased with the implications of quantum theory and during the now renowned 1927 Solvay convention he suggested a number of thought trials which he inferred exposed defects in the theory arguing that quantum mechanics is not a complete physical theory.
Even so, in 1935 Einstein and two associates, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen illustrated a thought experiment frequently directed to as the EPR paradox, the suggestions of which shook quantum theory. In essence, the EPR paradox confronted long held theories about the relationship amongst the observed values of physical quantities and the values which can be accounted for by a physical theory. If the concealed variable quantities stop engaging when they are a long way apart, the statistics of numerous measurements must bow to an disparity called ‘Bells inequality’, this is, however, disobeyed both by quantum mechanical theory and in tests in the laboratory.
Comprehension of how some of the attributes of a particle can come to be entangled by way of relative movement only when they appeared to be unentangled or unattached when at rest may well have many applications, synchronizing atomic clocks for example, which are fundamental for navigating spacecraft in deep space. This method, which has been displayed theoretically, obliges that the transmitter and receiver share sets of two entangled particles. Therefore, upon two or more atoms or subatomic particles becoming entangled, any modification to one is instantly mirrored by the same modification in the other.
In spite of the fact that two entangled systems look to interact across large spatial distances, current thinking is that with further research a degree of functional data may possibly be able to be conveyed in this manner, although this is undoubtedly some way off yet. Researchers are however of the opinion that quantum mechanics holds significant advancements in science and the current belief is that there is much more to quantum mechanics than they currently understand.
How Do Thunderstorms and Lightning Form?
May 14, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Thunderstorms and Lightning
Thunderstorms and lightning are formed by the consequences of an energy disparity in the atmosphere. In the easiest of terms, it is when the atmosphere comes to be excessively warm in its bottommost layers in comparison to the higher layers. Thunderstorms are a forceful illustration of atmospherical convection, with an up thrust and cooling air, and resulting cloud formation and are for the most part frequent in tropical zones, and are uncommon in Arctic countries on account of of cold surface temperatures.
Thunderstorms have several discerning attributes that can result in sizeable amounts of destruction to people and their possessions including causing heavy rain for a short time, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and are conventionally around 15 miles in width. There are 4 principal categories of thunderstorms namely, single cell, multi-cell, squall line and super-cell. Surrounded by a group of thunderstorms, the expression “cell” relates to each distinct updraft and whilst the majority of single cell thunderstorms move, there are some uncommon incidents where they endure without much movement.
Lightening forms and manifests itself in the shape of a sizeable spark, or eruption of electric charge, that passes through the air from one charged area of a cloud to another charged area. It originates from a release of electrical energy, which is built up within the thundercloud cloud pursuant to recurrent separation and splitting of water and ice fragments in the turbulent storm environment which discharges when the amassed electric charge develops into a sufficiently large enough charge.
Lightning can be sheet lightning taking place within the cloud or fork lightning amongst clouds.

Lightning Stikes
The lightning itself causes a fast warming of the nearby air, resulting in a abrupt enlargement and shrinking of air that is perceived as thunder. The noise of thunder is in fact caused by the amassed electricity striking the air and causing it to reverberate, this vibration causes a sound ultimately as a result of the extremely hot air pushing against the air particles initiating another reverbation. The rumbling noise of thunder is produced by the vibration or noise bouncing off the surface and the clouds.
Close to the lightning strike the thunder clap may be overheard as a brief booming crack. At a distance, the thunder reverberates causing the rolling thunder sound, because sound from distinctive sections of the lightning strike is not all heard at the same moment. It is possible to approximate how far away in the distance a lightning strike is by calculating the duration taken for the thunder to materialize at your current location. This is achieved by counting the seconds from the appearance of the lightning strike to the first rumbling of thunder, subsequently dividing this period by 5.
It is assessed at any given time approximately 2,000 electric storms are in progression over the World’s surface, and lightning forms and strikes the Planet one hundred times each second. Thunderstorms have been recognized to form in virtually every region of the globe, notwithstanding the fact that they are uncommon in the Arctic territories given the absence of consistent high temperatures. These amazing storms are as some believe nature’s methods of balancing the electrical forces that subsist amid the Earth and the upper atmosphere a natural pressure valve if you will.
Collision Theory Science Simply Explained
May 8, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Quantum Sciences
Collision theory science is a hypothesis, suggested by Max Trautz and William Lewis in 1916 that clearly illustrates how chemical responses take place and why reaction rates vary for various reactions. The collision theory is founded on the presumption that for a reaction to happen it is required for the reacting type (molecules or atoms) to draw near or to collide with each other. It is in essence a set of doctrines which describe the effects of various influences on the speed of a reaction. It is primarily used to illustrate why varying the particle measurement, temperature or denseness of reactants will change the reaction rate.
A primary comprehension of collision theory science allows us to foresee the types of experiments we may be able to conduct which will alter the rate of a chemical reaction. A pre defined quantity of energy is required to manufacture a chemical modification so the reaction must be oriented by a means favourable to the required rearrangement of molecules and electrons.
There are a variety of methods in which you can stimulate the reaction to occur for example, warming it up, varying the surface area, altering the pressure, concentration or by introducing some form of accelerator. Furthermore, the theory presumes that the greater part of collisions do not initiate a reaction, other than those in which the colliding mediums have a kinetic energy larger than a specific minimum, named ‘activation energy’.

Collision Theory Science
Expanding the temperature range of a reaction boosts the kinetic energy of the particles which in turn increases the quantity of collisions meaning the reaction rate also rises. However, as the temperature surges, not simply does the amount of collisions per second rise but in addition the ratio of collisions which have a kinetic energy the same or larger than Ea, the activation energy, increases. This upsurge in possible energy is directly aligned to an energy limit over which the reactant atoms must cross if the reaction is to go ahead.
Considering that atomic or molecular frequencies of collisions can be considered with some level of exactness exclusively for gases (through implementation of the kinetic assumption), the application of the collision theory is ordinarily restrcited to gas phase reactions.
Why is Nanotechnology Important?
April 22, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is significant on account of of its pre- eminence upon the comprehension, use, and control of matter at magnitudes of a minute scale, akin to approaching atomic levels, with which to manufacture new substances, instruments, and frameworks. Also known as ‘Molecular Manufacturing’, it is an emergent diversity of technologies in which medicine and engineering come together with physics and chemical science which are opening up many brand new possibilities especially within the medical arena in terms of implantable transmission methods, which are often favoured to the application of injectable medicines.
One, if not the most important, aspects of the applications of Nanotechnology is the incorporation of this science into medical programs embracing the present research into vaccine formation, wound regeneration, skin care, narcotic countermeasures and chemical and biologic detectors. The biological in addition to medicinal study areas, have utilized the unequalled properties of nanomaterials for various programs not least due to their aspiring enhanced delivery methods, such as pulmonic or epidermic systems to prevent having to pass throughout the abdomen, encapsulation for both delivery and deferred release, and ultimately the combination of detection with transmission, to ensure that medicines are delivered precisely where they are required, consequently reducing the side effects on sound tissue and cells.
The future may well include huge task forces of medical nanorobots tinier than a cell drifting through our bodies removing bacteria, cleaning blocked arteries, and undoing the damage of old age. This type of emerging important science would permit medical personnel to analyze if someone has suffered a heart attack quicker than is currently possible with existing checks on blood proteins. Contemplate a medical device that journeys through the body to search for and eliminate small groups of cancerous cells in advance of their spread. The leading light of nanotechnology, Dr K Eric Drexler, even asserts that nanorobots will be produced that are capable of self replicating in much the same method as cells currently do in our bodies.
Nanotechnology pulls theories and conceptions from disciplines not only comprising engineering and physics but also chemistry, biology, mathematics and computer science. Moreover, it is being proclaimed as the next big technological revolution.
As discussed earlier, its use is very varied, ranging from novel additions of traditional device physics, to entirely new approaches founded upon molecular self assembly, to improving new substances with dimensions on the nanoscale, even to supposition around whether we can directly manipulate matter on the atomic scale.
While the evolvement of nanotechnology has the potential to take several decades, and the early developers are likely to be sizeable institutions with great wealth that can produce considerable advancement efforts, in the long term nanotechnology is going to be attainable to a larger variety of people. At this moment in time, now that the feasibleness of nanotechnology is extensively acknowledged, we enter the latest stage of the national debate regarding what programs should we take up to best deal with it. Raised energy proficiency, cleaner surroundings, further productive medical treatment and enhanced fabrication construction are only some of the possible advantages of nanotechnology.
What Refraction Means in Terms of Rainbows
April 14, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Refraction
Refraction in terms of Raibows is a fluctuation in the direction of the passage of a light ray. This is brought about by the fundamental interaction of the light which ordinarily prompts absorption of the source causing a variation in its velocity. The phenomena is responsible for rainbows in terms of the splitting of white light into a rainbow scale as it travels through a glass optical prism and as illustrated within our skies following rainfall and immedate sunshine.
The refraction of light when it transports from a quick medium to a slow-moving channel warps the light ray toward the boundary amid the two media. The quantity of warping pivots on on the indices of refraction of the two media plus is illustrated clearly by Snell’s Law. Snell’s law is used to work out the degree to which light is refracted when travelling from one medium to another. The law applies to the refraction of light in any circumstance, regardless of what the two media are. Snell’s Law supplies the coherent method of responding to the query of “how much does the light ray refract. Snell discovered this amount to illustrate the refractive properties of various materials, but it was subsequently discovered to be connected to the speed of light in the material.
When a shaft of white light crosses from air into a substance having an index of refraction that changes with frequency, a incident recognized as dispersion takes place, in which distinctive colour constituents of the white light are refracted at varied angles. While refraction enables attractive phenomena such as rainbows, it may additionally cause strange optical phenomena, such as illusions and Fata Morgana.
In sub aquatic acoustics, refraction is the warping or bending of a sound ray which results when the ray transports via a sound velocity gradient from a area of one sound speed to a area of a varied speed. The quantity of ray curving is conditional upon the total distinction amid sound speeds, that is, the diversity in temperature, saltiness, and pressure of the water.
Colours are each refracted to a somewhat distinctive degree and where the refraction is intense brilliant streaks of spectral colours occur. Colour is merely light of distinctive wavelengths and frequencies and light is only one type of energy that we can in fact view which is made up from photons. The principal light colours are red blue and green and by using an optical prism, white light can be parted into all the distinctive colours which constitute white light. The colours of the rainbow are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red and when environmental conditions are favourable a pair of rainbows can be viewed, the clearer chief rainbow and a weaker larger incidental rainbow with the colours flipped. The secondary rainbow has the colours reversed considering that any reflection has caused lateral reversal represented by the reversal of the Rainbow.
Refraction is an significant area of optical methodologies and the ultimate cause of refraction is classed as a modification in light speed and where the light speed varies the most, the refraction is largest.
Simple Way to Explain the Quantum Theory
April 11, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Quantum Sciences
Quantum theory is science’s most significant, thrilling, demanding and even mystifying domains and is considerably more than just strange, it is in addition without reservation the most awe-inspiring hypothesis in the world today. The supposition is telling us that we may well be deeply incorrect in our reasoning concerning what reality truly is.
Quantum theory was first christened quantum mechanics considering that it was supposed that there must have existed some habitual laws implicated in the activity of atomic particles and quanta of energy akin to the mechanics of macroscopical subject matter the likes of the major planets. The hypothesis endeavours to depict the behaviour of extremely small entities, in general the magnitude of atoms or tinier, in much the same method as Einstein’s theory of relativity illustrates the laws of larger commonplace entities. It is used in many efforts, involving television and pc’s, and even describes the nuclear practices occurring in and around stars.
Quantumists have us residing in innumerable number of dimensions furnished amid ‘probability waves’ and unperceivable ‘virtual particles’ that dart in and out of creation, in addition to this they express verbally that we may one day glide through wormholes within the Universe to look around other cosmoses or travel backward in time. In simple terms however Quantum theory is the analysis of the leaps from one energy echelon to another as it refers to the fabric and behaviour of atoms.
1905 saw Albert Einstein propose that light was a particle and not a wave, challenging a hundred years of researches. He conjectured that not only the energy, but the radiation itself was quantized in the identical fashion. This is the source of Einstein’s well known challenge that ‘God does not play dice’. Einstein could certainly not embrace quantum theory as a completed science seeing that quantum mechanics may well in general ‘only’ bestow likelihoods of how unique particles would react, and not work out definite certainties. For that reason, in spite of his many novel approximations, Einstein at no time could let go of the purpose of pre-quantum science to be competent to forecast the cosmos like clockwork.
Quantum science is not, as Einstein conceived, an unfinished science but in fact, a very progressive science inasmuch as it acknowledges that in complicated techniques science can at most provide expectations for the reaction of distinctive divisions. Without question, Quantum theory and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity form the foundation for present-day physics.
Nearly all individuals conceive that quantum theory is, in essence, the theory of the imperceptible sphere, of tiny particles, and enormous accelerators. For the majority of people however, quantum theory is a slogan for enigmatic, unfathomable science. It does however have a much larger field than just the diminutive sphere and can be suited to techniques where many unique sections work with each other and effect one and another.
Big Bang Theory Doppler Redshift Effect
March 23, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Science
The big bang speculation is the most modern variant of speculation about the origins of our universe which dates back over 25 centuries, ever since the Greek philosophers Thales and Anaximander questioned what the universe was constructed of and where it derived. The Big Bang Theory is realistic sciences favoured interpretation for the origins of the universe and is a generally agreed theory for the origin and development of our cosmos. Establishment of galaxies and great scale structure, the Big Bang template provides a outline in which to grasp the collapse of matter to shape galaxies and other wide-ranging structures studied in the universe to this day.
The expression “Big Bang” is used both in a restricted understanding to relate to a point in time when the studied enlargement of the universe (also known as Hubble’s law) started, and in a more universal maanner to refer to the predominant cosmological archetype illustrating the origin and development of the universe. The theory depicts that the cosmos was once a compact, hot body of material that blew up and has been increasing in size since the outset, some 10 to 20 billion years previously. One cosmologist has proposed that the substance shaping our universe blasted out from the “Big Bang” at a velocity quicker than the speed of light.
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity revealed that the cosmos must be contracting given that Einstein proved gravity transforms the direction of light but failed to speculate that gravity can therefore, increase or decrease the speed of light. Einstein realized that his calculations revealed that the universe must be either expanding or contracting, but that it would not be standing still, considering that if it were then gravity would draw all the galaxies towards one another. Einstein ultimately came to embrace a restricted universe and would later express this was his biggest error in his conviction that velocities above the speed of light were unobtainable.
The original revelation that galaxies shaped clusters was a great surprise to astrophysicists seeing that the Big Bang theory would foretell otherwise. The Big Bang theory disobeys many laws of science that are verified daily by theory, observation and experimentation.
The hypothesis was first founded by Edwin Hubble and Milton Humason in 1929 and came to be recognized as the Hubble Redshift Hypothesis. Hubble discovered that extremely vague galaxy clusters were emanating light with a redshift. The redshift of remote galaxies means that the Universe is almost certainly increasing. The Redshift Theory ultimately has the planet Earth at the core of the universe considering that almost all galaxies are moving apart from the Earth and white light discharged by a static object will develop as redshift light if the speed is decelerated for any reason. This is precisely what experts believe the redshift calculations display. To put it in simpler terms, if the light from a considerably distant solar system is white, the galaxy is in fact travelling toward us given that a light from a stationary galaxy at that distance would have a regular redshift.
The opposing science to the Redshift Theory is vast and the Big Bang Theory is therefore suffering grave vulnerability amongst experts. The redshift is expressed to be the additional “evidence” that a Big Bang took place. There are three potential interpretations to the redshift viewed in the spectra of further remote stars, Evolutionists assert that the velocity redshift theory is the only motive of the spectral redshift. However, there are two other sources of redshifts, which have been substantiated by science, and these better illustrate the various anomalies accompanying redshifts. The first being the tired light redshift in which light progressively decelerates as it journeys over long expanses and secondly the gravitational redshift in which light loses drive as it crosses the gravitational ranges of stars.
The fact that we can gauge redshift in the light from remote constellations informs us that the galaxies are growing less visible to us, and from each other. As the universe increased and chilled, so the method of matter building commenced which induced the construction of stars, planets, constellations etc.
In spite of the fact that the big bang theory is well known, many believe the concept to be greatly misconstrued. This renders one of the biggest and significantly most important aspects of our existence being constantly researched, updated and cultivated. Because of these apprehensions and difficulties, along with others, some scientists now sense that the Big Bang Theory is deeply unacceptable as an interpretation of the universes beginnings.
When Will The Large Hadron Collider LHC Be Completed?
March 21, 2009 by James Hewson
Filed under Science
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the only particle accelerator large enough and potent enough to produce the Higgs Boson, the as yet elusive undetected particle that theory claims provides everything including substance and also causes mass. This colossal device is sited throughout a 27 mile long tunnel under the boundary between France and Switzerland. The LHC is the climax of many years worth of study that had subsisted with smaller collider’s in the past.
The machine created a sensation around the world not just because of its record cost and scale but because of claims it might cause a black hole to form that would swallow the planet. These fears were somewhat dismissed however when in September 08 the accelerator was switched on for the first time. Unfortunately however, a badly soldiered joint amongst the magnets that make up its giant colliding ring failed and the big switch on was terminated. So, when will the Large Hadron Collider LHC be completed? Experts believe that it will not be until early 2010 when a further switch on will take place.

Large Hadron Collider LHC
Particle accelerators are a very important tool available to the physicist and have many applications outside particle physics. Particle accelerators are, of course, crucial tools for a wide range of sciences, not only for particle physics, but also for many other sciences, from nuclear physics to the life sciences, industry and medicine. Their primary use are to smash particles against each other at very high speeds, revealing their more fundamental components and particle accelerators such as the LHC are allowing us to look more and more closely at what matter is made up of, how it’s held together, and what happened at the very beginning of our universe.
The Collider attempts to carry out nothing less than providing us with a view of what the universe was like about one-trillionth of a second following the Big Bang when the 4 integral forces in the universe electromagnetism, the tough and feeble nuclear forces, and gravitation initially separated. In reproducing the environment right after the big bang the Large Hadron Collider is anticipated to progress our comprehension of the universe.





