Ocean currents are one of the main factors that affect climate. Other factors are proximity from the equator, distance from the sea, direction of prevailing winds and relief (mountains). But, for the most part, ocean currents act as one of the most important factors that influence the climate. And the reason why is because a …
When the Earth begins to get too hot, the water increases in temperature. As the water continues to get hotter, it begins to undergo a phase change in which water turns to gas. The water droplets turn into water vapor because the temperature has caused the individual water molecules to speed up considerably. This process …
An air exchanger is a device that transfers stale air from inside a home to outside, and fresh air from outside to the inside. Air exchangers are often large and built directly into a home’s foundation in order to provide maximum fresh air levels at all times. This is important because indoor air is often …
An air circulator is basically a fan. Although the term “air circulator” most often refers to an industrial fan that is used in a warehouse, factory, or office building, it can also refer to a regular household fan. Air circulators also refer to air conditioning units and other types of air cooling devices. They are …
Weather modification refers to willful manipulation of the climate or local weather. Research done in this field goes back to as far as the early 1940s when the US military experimented with cloud seeding to stimulate rain. Today, private corporations have joined the weather modification research effort to protect people, cities and assets from the …
A typhoon is nothing more than a hurricane that occurs in the North West Pacific Ocean. The same conditions that cause a hurricane in the Atlantic ocean that hit the United States every summer are the ones that cause a typhoon. However, a typhoon does have a series of specific “rules” to exist and therefore, …
A psychrometer is a type of hygrometer and is used exclusively to determine the relative humidity or moisture content in the air. Psychrometers represent an older humidity measurement form and electronic sensors that depend on changes in electrical resistance and capacitance rather than condensation temperature have widely replaced them. However, psychrometers are still found in …
Blizzards are severe storms which are marked by extremely low temperatures, high-speed winds and substantial snowfall. They are formed when a region of high atmospheric pressure, termed as a ridge, interacts with a region of low atmospheric pressure. As a result of this, a phenomenon known as advection takes place, in which there is a …
An ultrasonic fogger is a device that uses ultrasonic sound waves to break water into millions of individual water droplets that are then sprayed into the air as a thick fog. Ultrasonic foggers are most often used for Halloween decorations as a dry ice replacement. The fog that an ultrasonic fogger produces is not created …
There are three stages to a thunderstorm’s life cycle: the cumulus stage, the mature stage, and the dissipation stage. When a thunderstorm begins to form, it does so at the cumulus stage. From there, the storm advances in severity until it reaches its peak at the mature stage and then begins to gradually die out …