[FRIAM] PSC Tornado Visualization (2008)

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Jon,

 

  It came from my watching of that luscious tornado video that Frank sent us.  

 

I thought I got from that video a model of a super cell which involved two helically shaped pathways of air, one warm, moist, cyclonic and ascending and the other cooler, dryer anti-cyclonic and descending, both contributing to the rotation of the tornado.  What struck me about this model is how much it relied on a total lack of friction between the two flows.  Another thought that occurs to me is the role of hail stones in all of this.  If you are a heavy hail stone and you are falling through the double helix, what exactly happens to you? Doesn’t centrifugal force keep ejecting you out the side of the helix you are in, or a the differential speeds between the two flows, do you always bounce back when you hit the seam between them.  And speaking of lightening, is there any metaphor to be made between these two coils constantly moving by one another and a copper coil around an iron nail.  

 

Here is where Dean Doug comes flying out of the ground and screams:

STOP TALKING ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!  I am sorry, Doug.  Just think of me as one of your parrots.  I know not what I  say. 

 

Nick 

 

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Jon Zingale
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2020 11:28 AM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] PSC Tornado Visualization (2008)

 

Nick,

 

In chat on Friday, you mentioned a research project

involving two helices (or possibly nested tori), with distinct

thermal properties and which exist at the core of a tornado.

Would you mind posing the problem here so that I and possibly

other members of the community can consider it?

 

Jon

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