Just couldn't resist. I saw THIS POST at Random Fate and had to share it. Jack takes the time to show us the mathematics involved in Hurricane strength.
A two degree Fahrenheit increase in water temperature could DOUBLE the energy of a weak hurricane even if only 0.1% of the additional energy available is absorbed by the tempest.All of a sudden, that two degree increase ain’t looking so inconsequential any more, is it?
Of course, part of my interest was this quote:
Systems that change in large ways with only small variations in the initial conditions are referred to as “chaotic” in Physics. The “butterfly effect” is used as a crude way of describing this characteristic, where the flaps of the wings of a butterfly in China can result in a hurricane in the Atlantic.
Which reminded me of a book my mom got me to read on the Chaos theory. If you have never read anything on Chaos, you really should. I feel it applies to my life almost every day. ;-)
But take the time to read Jack's post and realize why most of us in Florida are always worried when a Hurricane comes by and how they can't truly predict exactly how strong, how big it will be, or where it will come into land. Chaos.
Posted by vw bug at September 23, 2005 08:01 AM | TrackBackChaos...yep, that'd be it for sure. ;) Blessed are those who can (at least) understand it, eh, VW?
Posted by: Lasciate at September 23, 2005 08:37 AMI had to take physics twice, should have taken it again...
however I understand chaos completely!
Posted by: ArmyWifeToddlerMom at September 23, 2005 10:37 AMSometimes, ignorance truly is bliss...
Posted by: Ogre at September 23, 2005 10:55 AMWhen everyone started pointing fingers of blame, I blamed butterflies. Sure, they look all sweet and innocent but I have kids so I've learned that looking innocent is almost a sure sign that someone's been up to no good.
Posted by: marybeth at September 23, 2005 06:37 PMI was thinking for a while it was a commie plot. Then I realized that the water in the Atlantic and the Gulf are warmer this year and of course that will cause stronger storms. Then I realized what was causing the global warming! People of course. But not because of carbon fuels. It is flatulence. People are eating more and farting more. All that gas has to go somewhere. Then with the human population explosion we also have to have more pets. DOG FARTS! And more meat to feed the people. COW AND PIG FARTS. Now put all tghis together and I think the answer is to ban beans and put a plug in every pig and cow butt on earth. With in a couple of years maybe we could get things back to normal.
Posted by: GUYK at September 23, 2005 07:39 PMLasciate, AWTM: Anyone with pets or children seem to have an understanding of chaos... whether they wanted to or not. GRIN
Ogre: I lost so many brain cells after having children I just don't realize I'm ignorant anymore. GRIN
Marybeth: That was great! Thanks for sharing.
GuyK: You realize what would happen if you plugged all those butts don't you? It would be better to ship them to the moon. Then it would be really cool to see how it effected us.
Posted by: VW Bug at September 23, 2005 08:37 PMYou do realize you're going to get googled for plugging butts now, don't you? Just sayin'... ;-)
Posted by: Bou at September 23, 2005 10:20 PMIronically enough, cows are a signficant source of atmospheric methane, which is indeed one of the greenhouse gases that might play a role in global waraming, if indeed the theory is correct.
So, we could die a death of a billion cow farts...
Posted by: Jack at September 27, 2005 01:46 PM