Wonders (Updated)

djHiran

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  • Oct 6, 2006
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    I'm starting this thread to make a
    huge collection
    of
    wonders of

    Nature,

    Technology,

    Sports,

    etc.

    I'll update this as I find interesting info and pictures.

    All of you are welcome to watch, add wonders!


    And maybe I'll be quoting from other threads if I find them relevant. Thats just to make this a complete collection.

    Enjoy!
     
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    djHiran

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    [Nature] Ice Circles

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    A rare phenomenon usually only seen in extremely cold countries, scientists
    generally accept that Ice Circles are formed when surface ice gathers in the
    center of a body of water rather than the edges. A slow moving river current
    can create a slow turning eddy, which rotates, forming an ice disc. Very slowly
    the edges are ground down until a gap is formed between the eddy and the
    surrounding ice. These ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500
    feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Moving Stones of Death Valley

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    The mysterious Moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have
    been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to
    hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a
    time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and
    surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not
    explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at
    different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations
    do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour
    would be needed to move some of the stones.

     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Red Tide

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    More correctly known as an algal bloom, the so-called Red Tide is a natural
    event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in
    the water column and can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a
    blood red color. This phenomena is caused by high levels of phytoplankton
    accumulating to form dense, visible clouds near the surface of the water.
    While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of
    deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals. In
    some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides though no human
    exposure are known to have been fatal. While they can be fatal, the
    constituent phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers.
    Florida red tides occur almost every year in the Gulf of Mexico. The Florida red
    tide organism, Karenia brevis, produces a toxin that can kill marine animals and
    affect humans. Scientists have studied this organisms for more than 50 years

     

    djHiran

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    [nature] Fire Whirls

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    A Fir Whirl, also known as fire devil or fire tornado, is a rare phenomenon in
    which a fire, under certain conditions --depending on air temperature and
    currents--, acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like
    effect of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire whirls often occur
    during bush fires. Vertical rotating columns of fire form when the air currents and
    temperature are just right, creating a tornado-like effect. They can be as high
    as 30 to 200 ft tall and up to 10 ft wide but only last a few minutes, although
    some can last for longer if the winds are strong.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Gravity Waves

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    The undulating pattern of a Gravity Wave is caused by air displaced in the
    vertical plain, usually as a result of updrafts coming off the mountains or
    during thunderstorms. A wave pattern will only be generated when the updraft
    air is forced into a stable air pocket. The upward momentum of the draft
    triggers into the air pocket causes changes in the atmosphere, altering the
    fluid dynamics. Nature then tries to restore the fluid changes within the
    atmosphere, which present in a visible oscillating pattern within the cloud.
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Aurora Borealis

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    Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful events to occur in our world, the
    Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, has both astounded and
    amazed people since it was first discovered. This phenomenon ocurrs when
    the sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions) that travel
    out into space at speeds of 300 to 1200 kilometres per second. A cloud of
    such particles is called a plasma. The stream of plasma coming from the sun is
    known as the solar wind. As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the
    earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow
    the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere, the section of the
    earth’s atmosphere that extends from about 60 to 600 kilometers above the
    earth’s surface. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere
    they start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras,
    northern and southern.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Mammatus Clouds

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    Also known as mammatocumulus, meaning "bumpy clouds", they are a cellular
    pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. Composed primarily
    of ice, Mammatus Clouds can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction,
    while individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at
    a time. True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often
    harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system.
     

    djHiran

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    [Technology] Fastest Aircraft on Earth

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    The X-43 is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft design with multiple
    planned scale variations meant to test different aspects of hypersonic flight. It
    is part of NASA's Hyper-X program. A winged booster rocket with the X-43 itself
    at the tip, called a "stack", is launched from a carrier plane. After the booster
    rocket brings the stack to the target speed and altitude, it is discarded, and the
    X-43 flies free using its own engine, a scramjet. The third flight of the X-43A set
    a new speed record of 12,144 km/h (7,546 mph), or Mach 9.8, on November 16,
    2004. It was boosted by a modified Pegasus rocket which was launched from a
    Boeing B-52 at 13,157 meters (43,166 ft).​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Fire Rainbow

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    A circumhorizontal arc is an optical phenomenon, an ice-halo formed by plate
    shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds. The current accepted technical
    names are circumhorizon arc or Lower symmetric 46° plate arc. The term 'fire
    rainbow' coined recently by a journalist is not recognised.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Penitentes

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    These amazing ice spikes, generally known as Penitentes due to their
    resemblance to processions of white-hooded monks, can be found on mountain
    glaciers and vary in size dramatically: from a few centimetres to 5 metres in
    height. Initially, the sun’s rays cause random dimples on the surface of the
    snow. Once such a dimple is formed, sunlight can be reflected within the dimple,
    increasing the localized sublimation. As this accelerates, deep troughs are
    formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Snowflakes

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    Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets freeze. These droplets
    are able to remain liquid at temperatures lower than −18 °C (0r °F), because to
    freeze, a few molecules in the droplet need to get together by chance to form
    an arrangement similar to that in an ice lattice; then the droplet freezes around
    this "nucleus."​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Ice Flowers

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    Ice flowers are formed on new layers of sea ice, from saturated water vapors
    that come up from under the ice through cracks. In contact with the cold air,
    the vapors start to freeze and the salt on the surface of the ice begins to
    crystallize and serves as a nucleus for the frozen vaporized water. Thus,
    molecule by molecule the ice flowers begin to take shape. They have recently
    been recognized as the dominant source of sea salt aerosol in Antarctica and
    scientists suspect they may be the main cause of tropospheric ozone
    depletion during the polar sunrise. One of the most beautiful frozen wonders
    on Earth, ice flowers are still a mystery to many people.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Frozen Waterfalls

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    The growth of a frozen waterfall can proceed only gradually, for progressive
    freezing of the flowing water. There are thousands of frozen falls around the
    world. The one located at Beijing's Myun County attracts tourists from all over
    the country as well as internationally. A beautiful display of nature's art at work.​
     
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    djHiran

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    [Nature] Supercells

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    Supercell is the name given to a continuously rotating updraft deep within a
    severe thunderstorm (a mesocyclone) and looks downright scary. They are
    usually isolated storms, which can last for hours, and sometimes can split in two,
    with one storm going to the left of the wind and one to the right. They can
    spout huge amounts of hail, rain and wind and are often responsible for
    tornados, though they can also occur without tornados. Supercells are often
    carriers of giant hailstones and although they can occur anywhere in the world
    they’re most frequent in the Great Plains of the US.​
     

    djHiran

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    [Nature] Holes in the Ground

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    From the end of 1980s a strange phenomena is happening in some Russian
    forests. People find strange, deep holes. They appear in the dense forest, in the
    places you can’t get on the car or truck to bring any device to drill the ground.
    There is no any soil that should be taken from such deep holes is found.