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1500 questions
19
votes
4 answers
Is there any simple way of using the Coriolis effect to determine what hemisphere you are in?
I have heard from many people that sinks do not empty in a particular pattern depending on what hemisphere you are in, but I have also heard from people who adamant that a sink of water would empty clockwise in one hemisphere and anti-clockwise in…
Kenshin
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19
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1 answer
What is the range of possible atmospheric pressures on the surface of the Earth?
I'm developing an Android app which uses a pressure sensor. Due to storage limitations I have to normalize and scale the atmospheric pressure values. For this I need to know the extreme values of pressure.
Different conditions should be respected,…
hgoebl
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18
votes
2 answers
Why are deserts mostly located on the western side of continents?
I read somewhere in a book that mostly desert found in the western part of a continent. So my question is that why is it so? I searched on the internet but I didn't get a reasonable answer for that.
bashir ali
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18
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2 answers
Is this 70km crack in an ice shelf of Antarctica remarkable, or a regular occurrence?
I've just seen the LiveScience article 70-Mile-Long Crack Opens Up in Anatarctica. I'm not sure if the title is a bit sensational or not, the crack is in an ice shelf, not the continent of Antarctica.
An ominous crack in an Antarctic ice shelf as…
uhoh
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18
votes
1 answer
How long does it take for the ocean conveyor to circulate?
What is the period of the thermohaline circulation in the ocean? Obviously, individual particles may take longer or shorter, but what is the average for a small water parcel to do a full loop and end up back in the same place?
naught101
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18
votes
5 answers
Why aren't seismic stations installed very deep underground so as to pre-warn from earthquakes?
The velocity of p-waves emanating from earthquakes is in the range of 5-8 km/s (link)--let's assume it is 5 km/s. The earthquake depth is up to hundreds of kms deep underground (link)--let's assume it is 100 km.
That said, if a seismic station is…
student1
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18
votes
3 answers
What determines a mineral's hardness?
Mohs Hardness Scale is basically a measurement of the hardness of a material, or more specific, a rock or mineral. But I have never been able to figure out why some minerals are harder than others.
Azzie Rogers
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18
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2 answers
Is this ice cover real - and what circumstances are required to make it?
The title says it all...
I assume it requires very slow freezing sheltered from the wind. Undercooled water, maybe?
A Reddit thread talks about Delaunay triangulation, but that does not explain how it forms.
Many sites claim it is in Switzerland…
Jan Doggen
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18
votes
2 answers
Why is the troposphere 8km higher at the equator than the poles?
Fundamentals of atmospheric modeling show that the height of the tropopause depends on the location, notably the latitude, and that the troposphere is roughly 8km higher at the equator than the poles depending on the time of year.
First guess was…
blunders
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18
votes
3 answers
Why does the earth spin clockwise?
Why does earth rotate in a clockwise direction? Did a large meteor collide with earth causing earth to rotate? If that is what happened, could another, larger meteor cause earth to reverse its rotation?
tux
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18
votes
2 answers
Why are clouds darker before it rains?
What causes the darker color of the clouds (nimbus) when it is about to rain? Non-precipitating clouds (e.g., cumulus, stratus) tend to be white, but rain clouds become gray and almost black before it rains. What is different in those…
arkaia
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18
votes
1 answer
Can glaciers be less than 30m thick?
The wikipedia page on Ice-sheet dynamics claims that:
Ice will not flow until it has reached a thickness of 30 meters (98 ft)
And this geography website claims that
To be called a glacier, a mass of ice must be capable of motion.
Together,…
foobarbecue
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18
votes
2 answers
What is the difference between roughness length and zero plane displacement?
Both roughness length $z_0$ and zero plane displacement $d$ seemed to be defined as the height above the ground at which wind speed theoretically becomes zero. But wind speed is also supposed to go to zero at $d+z_0$. What is the difference between…
environmentstudent
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18
votes
0 answers
How much heat is transported from the interior to the surface in the form of hydration enthalpy?
Heat is transferred from the interior to the surface through several methods. One is simply the conduction of sensible heat through the crust - I would guess this accounts for most of it. But some is also transferred through another route: when…
N. Virgo
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18
votes
2 answers
Why Vp/Vs and not Vs/Vp?
The relation between shear wave velocity (Vs) and pressure wave velocity (Vp) is often expressed as Vp/Vs. Wouldn't the opposite be more logic? Vs/Vp would never lead to division with zero and the relation would always be a neat number between 0 and…
user2821
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