Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: james_f_hall
That's a bunch of BS. 10 747s of super absorbent gel aint going to slow it down by anything measurable. The energy of this storm is equivalent to over 15 hiroshimas per second.

This is not entirely correct. The kinetic energy of the wind is equivalent to 15 Hiroshima type blasts perhaps. Lower scale hurricanes are usually described as equivalent to 1 Hiroshima type blast. But this doesn't take into account a few factors. First, the wind doesn't stop every second and suddenly regenerate itself. The statement 'per second' that is widely quoted was added by someone who did not have a strong knowledge of physics. Kinetic energy is energy, and kinetic energy 'per second' is power. Second, the vast amount of energy of a hurricane is not stored in the wind. It is stored in the water evaporating. When the water evaporates at sea level it cools the ocean medium. Eventually when the water rises up above the hurricane and precipitates, it releases its latent heat of condensation. This heats the remaining dry air allowing it to rise further. Additionally, the condensation causes a drop in pressure (since water vapor has about 1000 times the volume of liquid water). Both of these factors aid each other to make it more likely for water to evaporate (with a lower pressure) and to create strong winds (by a difference in pressure and by the movement of the dry air). While there is some equilibrium value for the evaporation and condensation that you could calculate in one second to determine the power of a hurricane, I highly doubt it would compare with the power of 15 Hiroshima type blasts (at the peak of the reaction). I also highly doubt that if you calculated the energy of the entire hurricane (taking into account the latent heat of condensation of all the water that will condensate and the kinetic energy of the wind) over its entire high power lifespan (Cat 4 or 5) that it would be able to compare with 15 * 20 kilotons/sec * 3600 sec/hr * 24 hours/day * 2 days (the energy of 15 Hiroshima type blasts per second over 2 days--51,840 Megatons)

2,338 posted on 09/22/2005 2:13:31 PM PDT by burzum (Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.-Adm H Rickover)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2174 | View Replies ]


To: pettifogger
OK -- John Gibson just had some woman from TX DOT on who listed lots of interstates with all outgoing lanes -- so WHY are we seeing all these traffic jams and minimal traffic the other direction? DOT person said LE has to close ramps and make sure traffic inbound is stopped, etc, but BOY it would sure seem that such an effort would be on SOMEONE's to-do list! If I were in one of those cars stopped in a 14-hour traffic jam and quickly running out of gas I would be fuming.

Notes to self:

(1) find all non-interstate routes out of hometown to the hinterlands

(2)Get a GPS.

2,367 posted on 09/22/2005 2:18:26 PM PDT by pettifogger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2338 | View Replies ]

To: pettifogger
OK -- John Gibson just had some woman from TX DOT on who listed lots of interstates with all outgoing lanes -- so WHY are we seeing all these traffic jams and minimal traffic the other direction? DOT person said LE has to close ramps and make sure traffic inbound is stopped, etc, but BOY it would sure seem that such an effort would be on SOMEONE's to-do list! If I were in one of those cars stopped in a 14-hour traffic jam and quickly running out of gas I would be fuming.

Notes to self:

(1) find all non-interstate routes out of hometown to the hinterlands

(2) get a GPS

2,372 posted on 09/22/2005 2:19:21 PM PDT by pettifogger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2338 | View Replies ]

To: burzum

OK burzum,

- You seem like you would have some response to this somewhat ridiculous conversation I had with a co-worker today:

What would happen if you used a nuke to blow up/disrupt a hurricane?

Regards, KMJames


2,429 posted on 09/22/2005 2:27:15 PM PDT by KMJames
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2338 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson