Topic
Weather
6 articles
Physics
Why is a rainbow always in the same place?
Rainbows never turn up in a random corner of the sky. They sit at exactly the same angle from the shadow of your own head, every single time, and the person standing next to you is looking at a different one.
Mathematics
Why can’t you comb a hairy ball flat?
Try to brush every hair on a tennis ball flat and you always end up with a crown somewhere. Not usually — always. The same proof says that somewhere on Earth right now, the wind is not blowing at all.
Physics
Why does a desert get so cold at night?
Sand that could blister a bare foot in the afternoon can be chilly enough for a coat by midnight. All that heat goes somewhere, and where it goes is not where most people guess.
Physics
Why does a snowflake have six sides?
The pattern that decides the number six is millions of times too small to see, and yet it lands on your sleeve where anyone can count it. Something has to be doing the enlarging.
Physics
Why is the sky blue at noon and red at sunset?
The same sun, the same air, and two completely different colors twelve hours apart. Nothing overhead has been swapped out, so something else must be doing the work.
Physics
Why does thunder rumble on and on instead of going bang?
The flash is over in a heartbeat, but the noise behind it can roll for a dozen seconds. Something is stretching one very short bang into something very long.