Question:
How do snowflakes form those pretty shapes?
How do thermometers know the temperature?
Why is there weather?
Will water stop a tornado?
How come when you blow on something it dries?
How does rain make a rainbow?
Is the South Pole colder than the North Pole?
These questions are from the 3rd class at The Colorado Springs
School. Please respond to Rebecca Riese, Librarian. Thanks!!
Replies:
Water dries because when you blow on it you are raising
the amount of energy available to the smallest water parts (molecules)
The increased energy makes them move faster. When they move faster
they change from liquid to gas (change of state).
Rainbows are caused by water separating light into different
wavelengths. Each wavelength has a visual color that we see as a rainbow.
The south pole is colder because winters are both longer and colder than
at the north pole and because the water under the north pole keeps
it warmer. The length of the southern winter is due to the non-
circular orbit of the earth. The fat part of the orbit happens when
the south pole is having winter, so winter there is longer. The
northern winter happens when the earth is closest to the sun. So,
south polar winters are both colder and longer than north polar ones.
Snowflakes form pretty shapes because that is the crystal shape of
water. They differ based on conditions when they form. Thermometers
are metered based on the expanding (warming) and contracting (cooling)
properties of the liquid inside the thermometer. When it gets hotter, th
the fluid expands and "rises" up the tube. The numbers correspond
to how high the fluid rises at a given temperature. Water will slow
down a tornado (called a waterspout over water) because water is
heavier than air. When water gets sucked up into a tornado, the wind
can't spin it as fast. Water dries when you blow on it because you add
energy and make the smallest parts of the water (molecules) move
faster. When they move fast enough the water turns into gas or "changes
state". Rain clouds make rainbows by splitting light
into different wavelengths. Each wavelength appears as a separate color.
The south pole is colder than the north pole because it has longer
and colder winters than the north pole and because there is water
under the north pole that helps keep it warmer. Warm water from farther
south circulates under the north pole and warms it up. The length and
temperature difference is because the orbit of the earth around
the sun is egg-shaped. Winter in the south pole happens when the
earth is at the fat part of the orbit making the south pole winter longer.
Also, north pole winter happens when the earth is closest to the sun
and south pole winter happens when the earth is farthest from the sun.
Therefore, south polar winters are longer and colder than the north
polar winter.
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