Cherish sunsets, wild creatures, and wild places.
Have a love affair with the wonder and the beauty of earth.
– Stewart Udall
♪♫It’s raining men…hallelujah ♫♫…Nope, sorry. Just fish, frogs, and maybe a few gators…Read on to find out how.
Fast Rockin’ Day and Night: Earth rotates on its axis, completing one full rotation every 24 hours. This rotation is responsible for our day-and-night cycles. Earth also rotates fast—like, 1,000-miles-per-hour fast. Why can’t we feel this movement? Because Earth rotates smoothly, and we are all rotating along with it at the same constant speed.
Biggest Earthquake: Earthquakes release an incredible amount of energy. A magnitude 9 earthquake will release energy equal to almost a half billion tons of TNT—that is 33,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The largest earthquake ever recorded occurred in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5. This earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that affected coastal areas across the Pacific Ocean as far as 10,000 miles away.
A Few For the History Books: The 79 A.D. volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii and the surrounding area, killed 16,000 people, and covered the site with over 9 feet of ash. The eruption of ash and debris acted to create a natural time capsule, preserving valuable insights into early Roman life. Mount Krakatoa, which destroyed 70% of Indonesia when it erupted in 1883, had the strength of a 200-megaton bomb and killed 36,000 people. For comparison purposes, a 200 megaton bomb is over 9,500 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and 7,600 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Its blast could be heard over 3,000 miles away and caused a tsunami over 150 feet high that reached South Africa. Krakatoa is still an active volcano.
A Natural Wanderer: Earth’s magnetic North and South poles are not fixed—they are in a constant state of flux. This is due to the planet’s shifting fluid composition of molten iron and nickel. The magnetic North Pole is currently moving at a speed of 31 to 36 miles per hour away from Canada toward Russia. The magnetic South Pole is moving northwestward at a speed of 7 miles per hour. In fact, at some point in the future, Earth will experience a complete magnetic pole reversal. While no one can predict when the next polar reversal might occur, we know Earth has experienced at least 183 reversals over the last 83 million years, with the last event occurring 780,000 years ago. Should we be concerned that the next pole reversal will cause catastrophic damage to our planet? Thankfully, no. Why? Because magnetic pole reversals occur gradually over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, and while a polar reversal would impact power grids, communication and navigation systems, and particle ionization within Earth’s atmosphere, it would not create an existential threat to life on our planet.
Gravity – An Equal Opportunity Entity: Regardless of their mass, all objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum when under the influence of gravity. This means that if you could put a grand piano and a feather in a vacuum—where there is no air resistance—the two objects would hit the ground at the same time if they were dropped simultaneously from the same height.
Keeping Your Feet on the Ground: Despite the overwhelming evidence that gravity exists, scientists still do not completely understand it. Gravity is a fundamental force that exists among all objects with mass. It is responsible for keeping our feet firmly planted on the ground and influences the motions of celestial bodies like planets, stars, and galaxies.
A Force of Nature? Albert Einstein, the world-famous theoretical physicist, postulated that gravity isn’t a force at all. He described gravity as a curvature of time and space caused by mass and energy.
Nice Curves: According to Einstein’s general relativity theory, mass and energy cause space-time to curve around them. Massive objects like stars and planets distort space-time, causing other objects to follow curved paths as they move through space-time. This curvature of space and time is what we perceive as gravity.
Somewhere Over (and Under) the Rainbow: Rainbows are formed by the refraction, dispersion, and reflection of sunlight in raindrops suspended in the atmosphere and often appear after rain showers. Double rainbows occur when sunlight is reflected twice inside the raindrop. Unfortunately, a pot of gold is unlikely to be found at the end of any rainbow.
No More Tears: Raindrops are actually not tear-shaped. They are spherical on top and flattened at the bottom due to the pressure from the air as they fall. Raindrops more closely resemble the top half of a hamburger bun.
It’s Raining Fish (and Frogs): There is truth to the myth that it can rain fish, frogs, and other critters, too, during a tornado. If a tornado passes over a pond, its powerful updrafts can suck up the pond water, its pond life, and other debris. When the tornado loses energy, the sucked-up debris from the tornado—and all the pond critters—will fall back to the ground.
Got Gators? The State of Florida is well-known for its abundant alligator population. But did you know there are over 1.25 million alligators in Florida alone and around 5 million gators located in the lakes and rivers across the southeastern United States? Lake Okeechobee, located northeast of Palm Beach, has an estimated 30,000 alligators living in its waters.
Distinctly Earthy: That wonderful smell of fresh rain is unique and has a name: “petrichor.” We can smell petrichor, because when it rains, rain molecules create air pockets. As the rain drops hit the ground, they release an aerosol byproduct of organic matter called “geosmin.” Our noses can detect the scent of petrichor from geosmin aerosols on the ground and in the air.
Life’s a Ball: Ball lightning is a unique lightning phenomenon that is still not fully understood. It is often described as a glowing, spherical object. This phenomenon is distinct from regular lightning strikes, and reports of ball lightning vary in size, color, duration, and behavior. Characteristics associated with ball lightning include a floating or hovering motion, the ability to pass through solid objects, the occasional explosion, and its rapid and unexplainable appearance and disappearance. Witnesses have reported seeing ball lightning both indoors and outdoors during thunderstorms. Despite numerous eyewitness accounts, scientific understanding of ball lightning remains limited. Possible explanations include the combustion of vaporized silicon, the presence of certain gases, and/or electromagnetic effects.
Tomorrow, I’ll be writing about a few of the many wonders of our human bodies, like: Can you really die from a broken heart? What is neuroplasticity and why is it important? How do we mind the gap? The miracle of sight and a world of colors (Walt Disney would be VERY jealous) and guess what is big enough to cover a tennis court?
Have a great weekend and stay safe.
Pam
