From the USM Southworth Planetarium
“Every second in energy abounds”
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
November 6, 2009
Quiz: Weather and Space Weather
Those of us fortunate enough to reside in the nation’s right earlobe experienced snow on Thursday morning. Some citizens rejoiced at this frozen precipitation, for they revel in the change of seasons and are anxiously awaiting another winter of brisk air and crystalline snows. With the exception of these 3 – 4 people, the rest of us are in a state of lock-jawed distress.
In honour of this transition, we offer a quiz about weather and spaceweather, the latter of which refers to phenomena that originates in outer space, but occurs in or around the atmosphere.
If you’re a weather junkie, this quiz is for you!
1. About how many mathematical calculations are performed to complete one day’s worth of weather forecasting?
a. only 1
b. 10 million
c. 5 billion
d. 10 billion
e. none of the above
2. Meteor showers are one of the most famous examples of space weather. Why do we have meteor showers?
a. Because meteor baths are selfish experiences and bad for the climate
b. Because when Earth encounters an asteroid, tidal forces cause it to flake off pieces of itself which fall as meteors
c. Because Earth travels through a cloud of galactic dust
d. Because Earth travels through a path of cometary debris and these comet pieces descend through our atmosphere and appear as meteors
3. Two temperature scales are typically used for weather: Celsius and Fahrenheit. The values of each for any given temperature will be different (e.g., water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius, but 32 degrees Fahrenheit) with one exception. What temperature reading in Fahrenheit is the same as the corresponding temperature reading in Celsius? (i.e at which temperature do the scales converge?)
a. 100 degrees
b. -40 degrees
c. 211 degrees
d. -3,489 degrees
4. What is generally the best time of year to look for the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis?)
a. No time of the year is more favorable for aurora viewing than any other.
b. Around the time of the equinoxes
c. Around the time of the winter solstice
d. April – July
5. How hot is a lightning bolt compared to the Sun’s “surface?” (photosphere)
a. a lightning bolt is 1% as hot
b. a lightning bolt is generally 7% as hot
c. most lightning bolts are 11 – 19% as hot
d. none of the above
6. Presently, we are experiencing the peak of a relatively weak meteor shower called
the “Taurid meteor shower.” Why does it have that name?
a. because the meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Taurus
b. because Taurus is on the meridian at midnight when the shower starts
c. because a “Taurid” is the Greek name for the type of meteors that appear in the autumn
d. because the Sun is currently in Taurus and meteor showers are named for the constellation which the Sun occupies during the shower’s peak.
7. You’ve heard the phrase “raining cats and dogs.” We expect that cats and dogs have never actually fallen with the rain. However, during freak rain storms, groups of certain animals have fallen with the rain. Which of the following types of creatures have rained down on Earth? (Could be more than one.)
a. frogs
b. drunk Packers fans
c. grasshoppers
d. fish
e. pterodactyls
f. elephants
1. d. 10 billion
Answer a would be the correct one if one were referring only to Hawaii.
2. d. Because Earth travels through a path of cometary debris and these comet pieces descend through our atmosphere and appear as meteors
3. b. -40 degrees
-40 degrees Celsius is equal to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. b. Around the time of the equinoxes
Nobody is quite sure why.
5. d. none of the above
Lightning bolts are four times hotter than the sun’s surface!
6. a. because the meteors appear to emanate from the constellation Taurus
a meteor shower is named for the constellation from which the meteors appear to emanate. This is just an illusion, however. Meteors travel on paths parallel to Earth’s surface.
7. a. frogs
c. grasshoppers
d. fish
Waterspouts have generally been responsible for these torrents of critters falling onto Earth. The phrase raining “cats and dogs” is believed to derive from the Latin phrase cata doxes, meaning “contrary to experience,” and thus raining cata doxes signified an unusually heavy rain.
7 Correct: Weather Lord!
4 – 6 Correct Weather vassal!
1-3 Correct: Weather peasant!
0 Correct Do you like to serf?
