ðï¸ Nov. 13 - Field Trip Day: Watch water bubble right up from the ground
Where does the water come from that fills streams, rivers and lakes? From rain, right? That is correct, but you get extra credit if you said that some water comes up from the ground through springs.
Some thermal springs are comfortable enough for people to take a dip in, like a swimming pool or a hot tub – one such spring in Greenland allows people to take a soak in the water as icebergs float by!
Happy Greenlanders and tourists enjoy the unique experience of dipping in the hot springs while enjoying drifting icebergs floating by on Uunartoq Island at the far southern tip of Greenland. These hot springs provide visitors with a perfect bath temperatures of about 100°F. (USGS)
ðª Nov. 10 - Space Exploration: Sizing up the sun, Earth, moon at home
When thinking about how the sun looks in the sky (and remember to never look directly at it!), it is hard to imagine how big the sun really is. Let’s take a walk around our homes to size up the sun and moon compared to Earth:
Now that we know how large the sun really is, it makes sense that the storms on the sun are also monsters compared to the hurricanes and bomb cyclones on Earth.
Check out the photo below of plasma (a hot gas that is a mix of electrically charged hydrogen and helium – yup, the same helium used in balloons here on Earth!) erupting from the sun’s surface. Look at how big it is compared to Earth!
A close-up of an erupting prominence with Earth inset at the approximate scale of the image. Taken on July 1, 2002. (ESA&NASA/SOHO)
ð¬ Nov. 6 - Weather Lab: Melt metal in your hand
Melt metal in your hand? Do you think that is only possible if you are a superhero? Actually, there is a metal that will turn to liquid after sitting in your hand for some time – no special powers required!
If you said 31, you get a gold star. You get a double gold star if you know that this non-toxic metal melts at just 85.58 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). It’s no surprise that your ice cream cone or ice cubes will melt when it is that warm, but a metal turning into liquid when the temperature is not even 90 F (32 C) – that’s about as rare as a mailbox melting on a sweltering summer day.
â¡ Nov. 6 - Shocking Truth: Why are the tops of thunderstorms flat?
The next time you see a thunderstorm in the distance, look closely at the top of the cloud. If it’s a really big thunderstorm, you will notice that the top is flat.
See the part of the cloud that's poking up through the top. That’s called an overshooting top – think of that as a rocket shooting up into space. Gravity should keep the rocket on the ground, but the rocket has the energy to get into space.
When there is an overshooting top, that means the thunderstorm is really strong and can rise into the stratosphere where clouds typically shouldn’t be found.
ð Nov. 3 - Pop quiz!: Outer space is how far away??
Think about the last time when you’ve watched a rocket launch – how far did the spacecraft fly until it left Earth’s atmosphere?
Here’s a hint – wispy cirrus clouds can be as high as 45,000 feet (8.5 miles/13.7 kilometers) above our heads, and that’s nowhere near the edge of outer space!
Astronauts typically fly to the International Space Station, which is around 250 miles (402 km) above the Earth’s surface, but to leave the upper extent of the atmosphere, they must travel 6,200 miles (10,000 km). That’s about the same distance from Washington, D.C., to the southern tip of South America – think about that the next time you gaze up at the stars.
We know that clouds are in between us and outer space, but what else fills those 6,200 miles? Let’s find out:
The exosphere is the last layer of Earth’s atmosphere, and that gradually gives way to outer space.
For this activity, you will need: tissue paper that spans the colors of the rainbow, glue, unwaxed paper plates, scissors, wax paper, Q-tips, piece of plain paper, pencil and a hole punch. Two paperweights, books and a small bowl of water will also help us with this activity:
When you are making your rainbow, don’t forget that red is always on the outside of the arc. Red is followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (you know the phrase “Roy G. Biv”). What if you were adding a double rainbow to your artwork? You would have to flip the order of the colors!
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News / AccuWeather Ready
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 10-11
By Kristina Pydynowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Jan 10, 2021 4:39 PM EDT
ðï¸ Nov. 13 - Field Trip Day: Watch water bubble right up from the ground
Where does the water come from that fills streams, rivers and lakes? From rain, right? That is correct, but you get extra credit if you said that some water comes up from the ground through springs.
AccuWeather School is taking a field trip to see one unique spring called Little Bubbler at Raymond B. Winter State Park in central Pennsylvania:
The water coming out of Little Bubbler is quite chilly, but there are springs across the Earth that create a natural hot tub.
These thermal springs form as the groundwater is heated by rocks far down below the land we are all standing on. Many thermal springs are found where there has been recent volcanic activity, but that is not always the case. Rocks become warmer the farther down you go in the Earth, the U.S. Geological Survey explains, and can lead to a thermal spring.
Some thermal springs are comfortable enough for people to take a dip in, like a swimming pool or a hot tub – one such spring in Greenland allows people to take a soak in the water as icebergs float by!
Happy Greenlanders and tourists enjoy the unique experience of dipping in the hot springs while enjoying drifting icebergs floating by on Uunartoq Island at the far southern tip of Greenland. These hot springs provide visitors with a perfect bath temperatures of about 100°F. (USGS)
ðª Nov. 10 - Space Exploration: Sizing up the sun, Earth, moon at home
When thinking about how the sun looks in the sky (and remember to never look directly at it!), it is hard to imagine how big the sun really is. Let’s take a walk around our homes to size up the sun and moon compared to Earth:
Now that we know how large the sun really is, it makes sense that the storms on the sun are also monsters compared to the hurricanes and bomb cyclones on Earth.
Check out the photo below of plasma (a hot gas that is a mix of electrically charged hydrogen and helium – yup, the same helium used in balloons here on Earth!) erupting from the sun’s surface. Look at how big it is compared to Earth!
A close-up of an erupting prominence with Earth inset at the approximate scale of the image. Taken on July 1, 2002. (ESA&NASA/SOHO)
Solar storms from the sun are so massive that they can cause pretty Northern and Southern Lights here on Earth and disrupt radio communications. In March 1989, one solar storm was strong enough that it knocked out power to the entire Canadian province of Quebec!
ð¬ Nov. 6 - Weather Lab: Melt metal in your hand
Melt metal in your hand? Do you think that is only possible if you are a superhero? Actually, there is a metal that will turn to liquid after sitting in your hand for some time – no special powers required!
The metal that AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls melted in his hand was Gallium. Pop-quiz time: What number is this element on the periodic table?
If you said 31, you get a gold star. You get a double gold star if you know that this non-toxic metal melts at just 85.58 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). It’s no surprise that your ice cream cone or ice cubes will melt when it is that warm, but a metal turning into liquid when the temperature is not even 90 F (32 C) – that’s about as rare as a mailbox melting on a sweltering summer day.
â¡ Nov. 6 - Shocking Truth: Why are the tops of thunderstorms flat?
The next time you see a thunderstorm in the distance, look closely at the top of the cloud. If it’s a really big thunderstorm, you will notice that the top is flat.
How does a cumulus cloud that looks like cotton balls grow into a cumulonimbus cloud that has a flat top? The answer lies in how high the cloud towers up in the sky:
The flat tops of thunderstorms are called anvil clouds. Look at the photo below, that’s an anvil.
Credit NASA/ESA.
See the part of the cloud that's poking up through the top. That’s called an overshooting top – think of that as a rocket shooting up into space. Gravity should keep the rocket on the ground, but the rocket has the energy to get into space.
When there is an overshooting top, that means the thunderstorm is really strong and can rise into the stratosphere where clouds typically shouldn’t be found.
ð Nov. 3 - Pop quiz!: Outer space is how far away??
Think about the last time when you’ve watched a rocket launch – how far did the spacecraft fly until it left Earth’s atmosphere?
Here’s a hint – wispy cirrus clouds can be as high as 45,000 feet (8.5 miles/13.7 kilometers) above our heads, and that’s nowhere near the edge of outer space!
Astronauts typically fly to the International Space Station, which is around 250 miles (402 km) above the Earth’s surface, but to leave the upper extent of the atmosphere, they must travel 6,200 miles (10,000 km). That’s about the same distance from Washington, D.C., to the southern tip of South America – think about that the next time you gaze up at the stars.
We know that clouds are in between us and outer space, but what else fills those 6,200 miles? Let’s find out:
The exosphere is the last layer of Earth’s atmosphere, and that gradually gives way to outer space.
One thing to think about – if the Earth’s atmosphere is just gas, why doesn’t it escape out into space? The same answer is why you don’t float here on Earth like the astronauts do on space shuttles – gravity.
ð¨ Nov. 3 - Art Class: Create a stained-glass rainbow
Rainbows are one of the prettiest sights in the sky, and now you can make a stained-glass rainbow to hang around your house!
For this activity, you will need: tissue paper that spans the colors of the rainbow, glue, unwaxed paper plates, scissors, wax paper, Q-tips, piece of plain paper, pencil and a hole punch. Two paperweights, books and a small bowl of water will also help us with this activity:
When you are making your rainbow, don’t forget that red is always on the outside of the arc. Red is followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (you know the phrase “Roy G. Biv”). What if you were adding a double rainbow to your artwork? You would have to flip the order of the colors!
When sunlight takes two bounces on a trampoline inside the water droplet (the big word for that is refracted), the result is a faded, double rainbow with the color pattern flipped.
Thanks to NASA for the idea behind this art activity!
Additional experiments and reporting by Jason Nicholls.
Previously:
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 8-9
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 6-7
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 4-5
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Weeks 2-3
AccuWeather School Fall Semester: Week 1
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 13
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 12
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 11
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 10
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 9
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 8
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 7
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 6
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 5
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 4
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 3
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 2
AccuWeather Summer Camp: Week 1
AccuWeather School: Week 1
AccuWeather School: Week 2
AccuWeather School: Week 3
AccuWeather School: Week 4
AccuWeather School: Week 5
AccuWeather School: Week 6
AccuWeather School: Week 7
AccuWeather School: Week 8
AccuWeather School: Week 9