Category Ecology

How heavy can clouds be?

Clouds are like light fluffy, white cotton candies on the sky. How much could they weigh? Our first guess would be “Since they float in the air, perhaps, close to nothing!” Well, we are wrong. Researchers have calculated that the average cumulus cloud weighs an incredible 5,00,000 kg. That’s a hundred elephants!

Clouds, after all, are made up of water, and water is quite heavy. The density of cumulus clouds is around 0.5 gram of water per cubic metre. A 1 cubic km cloud contains 1 billion cubic metre. Doing the math: 1,000,000,000 x 0.5 = 500,000,000 grams of water droplets in our cloud. That is about 5,00,000 kg or 1.1 million pounds (about 551 tonnes).

So now, the next question is, how does all this massive weight stay afloat in the sky? How come they don’t fall on our heads? Because the air below it is even heavier. That is, the density of the same volume of cloud material is less than the density of the same amount of dry air. Just as oil floats on water because it is less dense, clouds float on air because the moist air in clouds is less dense than dry air.

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Is Meghalaya the wettest place on Earth?

Mawsynram in Meghalaya is the wettest place, based on rainfall in the world. Located in the Khasi Hills, it receives about 11,872mm (nearly 467 inches) of average annual rainfall According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the region received 26,000mm of rainfall in 1985. The mountainous terrain of Mawsynram and the nearby Cherrapunji, the second wettest place, are known for their lush greenery and scenic beauty The “living bridges are one of the most beautiful features of this region. These have been created by the local people by training the roots of rubber trees into natural bridges. With the root systems constantly growing, these bridges are self-sustaining.

Primarily due to the high altitude, it seldom gets truly hot in Mawsynram. Average monthly temperatures range from around 11 °C in January to just above 20 °C in August. The village also experiences a brief but noticeably drier season from December until February, when monthly precipitation on average does not exceed 30 millimetres (1.2 in). The little precipitation during the village’s “low sun” season is something that is shared by many areas with this type of climate.

Three reasons can be cited for high rainfall at Mawsynram:

The warm moist winds of the northward-moving air from the Bay of Bengal during the monsoon, which cover an extensive area but are forced to converge into the narrower zone over the Khasi Hills, thus concentrating their moisture.
The alignment of the Khasi Hills (east to west) places them directly in the path of the airflow from the Bay of Bengal, producing a significant uplift (plus cooling, further condensation and thus more rain).
Finally, uplift over the Khasi Hills is virtually continuous in the monsoon period because the lifted air is constantly being pulled up by vigorous winds in the upper atmosphere; hence, the rainfall is more or less continuous.

Credit : Wikipedia 

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WHICH ROCKS ARE COMMONLY USED FOR BUILDINGS?

Many types of stones are available such as basalt, marble, limestone, sandstone, quartzite, travertine, slate, gneiss, laterite, and granite, which can be used as construction materials. The stones used for building construction should be hard, durable, tough, and should be free from weathered soft patches of material, cracks, and other defects that are responsible for the reduction of strength and durability. Stones for construction purposes are obtained by quarrying from massive solid rocks.

Each type of stone lends itself to various construction applications based on its properties. For instance, certain types like basalt and granite have superior characteristics like high compressive strength and durability and hence employed in major construction works. However, there are stones that their characteristic makes them suitable for minor construction works, for example, gneiss. So, stones are used as a building material and also for decorative purposes.

TYPES OF BUILDING STONES

Some of the common building stones which are used for different purposes in India are as follows:

GRANITE

It is a deep-seated igneous rock, which is hard, durable and available in various colours. It has a high value of crushing strength and is capable of bearing high weathering.

BASALT AND TRAP

They are originated from igneous rocks in the absence of pressure by the rapid cooling of the magma.

TRAP STONE

They have the same uses as granite. Deccan trap is a popular stone of this group in South India.

LIMESTONE

Limestone is used for flooring, roofing, pavements and as a base material for cement. It is found in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

SANDSTONE

This stone is another form of sedimentary rock formed by the action of mechanical sediments. It has a sandy structure which is low in strength and easy to dress.

Credit: cmpstone.com

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WHAT IS PUDDING STONE?

A mixture of different-sized pebbles cemented by sand, formed in river channels over thousands of years. It looks a bit like a Christmas pudding.

Puddingstone is a nonscientific name for a conglomerate in which subrounded to rounded pebbles occur in a matrix of sharply contrasting color.

The name “puddingstone” was first used in Great Britain where the rocks were said to “look like a plum pudding”. A well-known example is the Hertfordshire Puddingstone, from the lower Eocene of the London Basin. It consists of colorful flint pebbles in a white to brown silicate matrix. It is a rock found at many locations in Hertfordshire County, England.

Puddingstones immediately catch the eye of the geologist and the eyes of people who otherwise have no special interest in rocks. People have an immediate interest in the rocks and carry them home from beaches, streams, and wherever they are found.

Many particularly nice specimens find a place on desks, bookshelves, window sills and other locations where they will be seen by and delight even more people. Their popularity greatly exceeds their abundance.

Credit: Geology.com

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WHAT MAKES LIMESTONE INTERESTING?

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of the mineral calcite, which is a crystalline form of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of Jasper or Flint, as well as amounts of clay, silt, and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers within the rock unit. The main source of this calcite in limestone is speleothems such as stalagmites and stalactites. The secondary source of calcite is the shells of sea animals and corals.

Limestone makes up about 10 percent of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. Most Limestone starts as the floor of shallow tropical seas and can be seen in parts of the tropics that are only 30 to 40 years old. The stone has the unique property of retrograde solubility, meaning that the stone is less soluble in water as the temperature increases.

Limestone is also classified as a young marble formed from the consolidation of seashells and sediment. Shells of sea animals form grains in limestone that promotes the growth of cement crystals around themselves.

Limestone is a popular building material because of its availability and the relative ease with which it can be worked with and cut. The stone can have a very diverse chemical composition, which can result in a variety of different colours of limestone or even within a single cut of the stone.

Credit: Banas stones

Picture credit: Wikipedia

IS COAL A ROCK?

No. Although coal is sometimes called an organic rock, it is not a proper rock as rocks are inorganic (lifeless). Coal is a fossil fuel – like oil and gas- that formed over millions of years from the remains of once-living matter.

Coal is the largest source of energy for generating electricity in the world, and the most abundant fossil fuel in the United States.

Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of ancient organisms. Because coal takes millions of years to develop and there is a limited amount of it, it is a nonrenewable resource.

The conditions that would eventually create coal began to develop about 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. During this time, the Earth was covered in wide, shallow seas and dense forests. The seas occasionally flooded the forested areas, trapping plants and algae at the bottom of a swampy wetland. Over time, the plants (mostly mosses) and algae were buried and compressed under the weight of overlying mud and vegetation.

As the plant debris sifted deeper under Earth’s surface, it encountered increased temperatures and higher pressure. Mud and acidic water prevented the plant matter from coming into contact with oxygen. Due to this, the plant matter decomposed at a very slow rate and retained most of its carbon (source of energy).

These areas of buried plant matter are called peat bogs. Peat bogs store massive amounts of carbon many meters underground. Peat itself can be burned for fuel, and is a major source of heat energy in countries such as Scotland, Ireland, and Russia.

Credit: Society

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