 Some very good Geography FAQ
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- Do rivers always flow from the north to the south?
While some oblivious people think that rivers always flow from the north to the south (a term some even call downhill!) but rivers always flow with gravity (unless modified by humans). There are countless examples of rivers that flow from the south to the north (in both hemispheres), such as the Ob in Russia and the Mackenzie in Canada.
An interesting analogy was brough up in the Geography Forum - would you fly to Seattle, rent a car, and coast all the way to Los Angeles? Just because south is at the bottom of the map, doesn't mean it's lower in elevation. - How many active volcanoes are in the world?
There are approximately 1,500 active volcanoes worldwide.
A volcano is considered active if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years. Over 75% of the world's volcanoes and most active volcanoes are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire. - What are the seven seas?
Although seamen of long ago are popularly known to have stated "I've sailed the seven seas," there really wasn't a good definition of those seas. However, today - How many tectonic plates are on earth?
There are dozens of tectonic plates on earth but only about one seven huge plates. The largest include the African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indo-Australian Plate, North American Plate, Pacific Plate, South American Plate - How do you convert snow into rainfall amounts?
Since precipitation is generally measured in inches of liquid water and not in snowfall amounts, snow is usually converted into inches of water by dividing by 10. Thus, ten inches of snow is equivalent to one inch of rain.
Light and loose snow takes more than 10 inches to make an inch of water but dense and slushy snow takes less. - What effect does the Coriolis force have upon my bathtub?
It's granted that the Coriolis effect has an affect on the circulation of air and water on the planet but many people also think that the force has an effect on sinks, wash basins, toilets, bathtubs and other tiny bodies of water.
Unfortunately, small bodies of water are not affected by the Coriolis effect or bearing on whether sinks and toilets drain in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere and another direction in the Southern Hemisphere - How often does a 100-year flood occur?
Large floods are often given designations as a "one-hundred-year flood" but a 100-year flood does not mean that such a flood occurs once every 100 years; instead it means that there is a one in one-hundred (or 1%) chance of such a flood occurring in a given year.
Two 100-year floods could occur a year apart or even a month apart -- it all depends on how much rain is falling or how quickly the snow melts. A "20-year flood" has a one in twenty (or 5%) chance of occurring in a particular year so it would be a less destructive flood than a 100-year flood while a "500-year flood" has a one in 500 (0.2%) chance of occurring so it would be much more catastrophic than a 100-year flood.
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Created by satish, 04-23-2007 at 06:41 PM
Last edited by satish, 04-23-2007 at 06:41 PM 0 Comments
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