Hello scientists!
Today, I tallied up all the subjects I've covered and how often I covered them. The results are: five blogs on physics, three blogs on biology, four on astronomy, and two on geology (and one on myths, but that one doesn't count). So, to even things out, here's the schedule for the next few blogs:
Geology
Biology
Geology
Astronomy
Biology
Geology
When this happens, there will be five blogs for each of the categories. From there, we'll start the process over again. Just letting you know.
Anyway, as I said, today's blog is about geology. Today's topic is quite indescribable. If I had to put it into words, imagine if Zeus and the devil fought for many days for many weeks over Maracaibo, Venezuela. Chances are you thought of tons of lightning flashing in the dark sky over Maracaibo, Venezuela, wherever it is (in the very northwestern part). Chances are you thought of something like this:
Incredible. How does this happen? No one knows.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to comm
Just kidding. You really think I would leave it there? Before we end this, let's see what's going on.
First, let's gather some facts. Catatumbo lightning, named after the Catatumbo river, is the largest single producer of ozone in the troposphere. The clouds in the storm reach up to 3 miles in height, and it occurs about 150 nights a year, 10 hours every day, and as much as 280 times per hour.
What causes this storm that puts Mother Nature above humans? Well, this reeks of some scientific explanation about mountains affecting the wind, so topography would be nice to know. In the northwestern part of Venezuela, there's a large lake known as Maracaibo Lake. This passes through a narrow strait (next to which is the city of Maracaibo) before it empties into the Gulf of Venezuela, connected directly to the Caribbean Sea. One last note: the lake is surrounded by flat, swampy plains, which in turn are blocked by three mountain ranges: the famous Andes, the Perijá Mountains, and Mérida's Cordillera. There will be a test on this later.
When air blows into the lake, it travels over the lake and onto the plains. There, it is stopped by one of the three mountain ranges (called it!) and forced to collect there. Heat and moisture are collected as well. These two factors create electrical charges. As these charges are destabilized by the mountains, and therefore released, you get lightning. A lot of it. This isn't even considering the uranium in the bedrock, or the methane and oil humans have released into the coastal plains. That explains it. Kind of.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Yes, this ending is the real one. Sorry if today's entry is a little unclear, I don't really understand it well, and apparently the scientists don't either. There have only been a few studies on it. Make sure to comment below, and I'll see you in the next post!
Until next time,
Ben's jamin'
Benjamin
P.S. Make sure you check out John's math blog at http://johncooksmathblog.blogspot.com.
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