This post is going out especially to all the students, especially in Miami, who have followed along on the blog day by day, and posted lots of questions for me. I love that you are traveling along with me, and I will come visit your schools in person when I’m back in Miami! And even though I am replying to each of you individually, several of you have asked me questions about all the ways that physics and math are related to the expedition (which makes me happy since my background is physics). So I wanted to write to all of you and say that the short answer is that it’s EVERYWHERE – from the environment around us, to the experiments and tools we use to understand it, to the ship itself, to how I am communicating with you from the ship. But I wanted to prove it to you, so here is a challenge for all of you – and it’s for everyone, not just students. Below are several pictures taken throughout our expedition, and physics and math are involved in all of them. I posed a question for each, and gave a hint as to the answers. I will post answers in a couple days (I know it’s the end of the week), but also you can comment if you want to share an answer before that!
Apart from melting ice caps and putting polar bears in danger, how will increasing global temperatures affect the underwater ecosystems and development of phytoplankton?
Hi Tristen, that is a great question, and one that I actually had several scientists discussing onboard! It is a complicating ecosystem, but ice melt would not have too much effect on phytoplankton. As the ice melts, they would get more sun, which would help them grow, but if they were in a region without nutrients in the water, they would not be able to grow that much anyway. In general through, the melt would have significant effects on ecosystems, because different organisms which prefer to live in certain temperature conditions would have to migrate to other locations as temperatures increase in their current habitat. This would cause changes in the food chain and habitats and many aspects of the ecosystem.
Why does this weather balloon rise, and why does it pop when it gets high enough? (Think about density and pressure.)
The air pressure inside the balloon increases as it gets higher because the outside pressure expands the balloon until it pops! The density of the balloon is less than the air allowing it to rise.
Dear Jonathan, thanks for replying! You hit the nail on the head with why the balloon rises. As for why the balloon pops, it is because as the balloon rises, what is changing is the outside air pressure, which is decreasing. Since the pressure inside is greater than the air pressure outside, then the balloon pops. I think you were on the right track though!
When you you guys are cutting the ice with the ship, do you feel it or the ship is to big that you really dont notice?
Hi Ariel, we definitely feel the ice cracking – the ship feels like it’s going over a “bump in the road” when it cracks a big piece of ice, and the sound is maybe a mix between a construction zone and a thunderstorm!