Various versions of this idea been around at least since the 1930s, but I was a little saddened to see it in a recent book* by science journalist Phillip Ball: The snow crystal (not snowflake**) certainly invites speculations, doesn’t it? So small and pure, yet containing much beauty, variety, and symmetry. It is the detailed […]
PSB #2: Why do Snow Crystals Show Such Symmetry on Each Branch? Read More »
Fog often arises from a gentle mixing of air. Some of the air will be warmer and with more vapor, while other air is cooler and with less vapor. In wet areas near the ground, as well as over water, the vapor is often near saturation for its temperature (i.e., near 100% humidity). When near-saturated
A Thin Fog Early This Morning Read More »
Sun pictures are not always simple circles. Back in 2017, my youngest daughter and I went on a backpacking trip that started during an eclipse. The above photo shows the ground shadows in the parking lot near the start of the eclipse. If one wasn’t paying attention, one might not realize how weird they look.
Sun Pictures II, an Eclipsed Sun Read More »
Shadows in the low sun can be amusing. In our shadows, our legs seem to take up most of our bodies, like we are a circus performer on stilts, and our head shrinks to a point. We become pinheads. In fact, the shadows of our legs look a bit like the parallel railroad tracks that
Long Shadows & Opposition Effect Read More »
Outdoor images of the sun, from sunlight through small apertures in the foliage, also go by the name “sun pictures”. They are actually inverted images of the sun, just like images from a pinhole camera are inverted. I described them in the April 30 post (https://wonderintheair.com/shadows-from-fences-also-sun-pictures/ ). The above picture shows images arising from gaps
Sun Pictures I, a Regular Sun Read More »
WITA’s new feature: science blunders often seen in popular works. I’ve seen this particular one twice recently from writers who I expected to be much more careful. It’s one of those “facts” folks believe was proven long ago and now is just passed along without thinking. Here is one version typical of others*: This statement
PSB #1 (Popular Science Blunders): Why do Lakes Freeze at Top? Read More »
Shadows on sunny days are everywhere, yet rarely given much thought. Minnaert* makes some interesting observations about shadows that you can readily make yourself, particularly when the sun is low in the sky. Consider shadows from fences, particularly the types made with thick wires running in two directions. Chain-link fences are a common example, and
Shadows from Fences (also Sun Pictures) Read More »
What a way to fly, eh? You are really tiny, sitting on a leaf’s edge. A light breeze rises up, so you let out some line. The tugging on the line tells you the conditions are good, so you let out more line. Next thing you know, you’re airborne. To go up faster, you let
Flying Spiders (and other tiny things) Read More »
A common sight here in the Seattle area: puddles in the rain. A drop hits, then a circular wavelet expands outward. When watching this happen, I tend to just see larger wavelet rings, never noticing the small initial waves. Do the waves start out very fast, then slow down as they get larger? The picture
Raindrop wavelets, falling apples Read More »
It seems like it should be a law of nature: reflections of a source cannot be brighter than the source itself. How could it be otherwise? To be otherwise would imply that the object somehow amplifies the light, which is impossible. And yet, there are situations that seem to bend this obvious “law”. If you
Lightened reflections on rippled water Read More »