Friday is here again, and with it the weekly "A Taste of Physics" column — number 35.
This week: vortices, the physics of tornadoes, and how to get to work faster than the drivers in the lane next to you.
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A vortex is a flow of matter in a circular pattern, moving fastest near the center and slowing toward the edges.
The flow in a vortex is typically turbulent and unsteady.
This means the matter flows in a random, disordered fashion, so calculating its motion relies on statistics rather than precise computation.
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A tornado is a particularly fascinating vortex, and the factors behind its formation are still being studied and are not yet fully understood.
A tornado begins as a vortex in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where differences in temperature, humidity, direction, and wind speed cause different parcels of air to move unevenly.
To understand how these differences in motion develop into a vortex, imagine driving around a roundabout with two lanes at a constant speed.
If you drive in the inner lane, closest to the center island, you will complete far more laps than if you drive in the outer lane, farther from the center.
Even if your speed in both cases is 50 km/h, the inner lane has a shorter circumference to cover, so you complete more loops around the roundabout per minute.
For this reason, when driving on a circular road, make sure to choose the shorter lane — the one closer to the center of the circle.
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A similar process takes place inside a storm cloud.
Different air currents meet and merge, but the closer a circular flow is to the center, the shorter its orbital path becomes — and so it appears to move faster.
The vortex becomes a tornado when a vertical air current pushes it down toward the ground.
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An interesting and unexpected energy source contributes to the formation of the vortex.
A storm cloud contains large amounts of water vapor.
When water vapor condenses into droplets, its energy level drops significantly compared to the vapor state, and the excess energy is released into the vortex, feeding it.
Shabbat Shalom 😊
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