DIU Activities > Alumni
Sharpen Your General Knowledge
Shamim Ansary:
What Is the Temperature of the Ocean?
The temperature of the ocean can vary between below freezing, 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius), and just below vaporization, the point where liquid water becomes water vapor.
Sunlight, atmospheric temperature, and condensation of water vapor all heat the surface of the water. The warmer surface generally remains separate from lower, colder water, unless winds or currents stir it up.
The surface is defined by how deep sunlight can penetrate. Sunlight reaches between about 300 and 1,600 feet (91 and 488 meters) into the water. Beneath the surface lies the thermocline, a region where temperatures drop sharply. In the thermocline, temperatures steadily decrease all the way down to the ocean floor.
Surface ocean water can remain liquid below 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius) because the salt content doesn’t allow it to freeze. Subzero water near the ocean floor does not freeze because of the immense amount of pressure on it.
Shamim Ansary:
How Hot Is the Earth’s Core and What Factors Determine Its Temperature?
Two factors determine the heat at the center of Earth: pressure and radioactive energy (the energy released by changes in atomic levels).
These amount to an impressive temperature, at least 5,000° Fahrenheit (2,760° Celsius).
Some estimates place the temperature as high as 7,000° (3,870° Celsius).
Shamim Ansary:
Do Other Animals Have Wisdom Teeth?
Other mammals do have what we call wisdom teeth, the molars that lie farthest back in the mouth.
Often in humans, the jawbone is too small to accommodate these teeth, so they can’t break through the gums and become painfully wedged against the jaw and the other molars.
In other mammals, however, their jawbones are still large enough to house them. They’re referred to as “third†molars, and look no different than the other molars in their mouths.
Shamim Ansary:
How Cold Are Clouds?
Water droplets remain liquid in clouds down to —27° Fahrenheit (-32° Celsius), far below freezing.
They remain in a liquid state because of the high pressure in the atmosphere.
The temperature must fall below —80° Fahrenheit (-70° Celsius) before the droplets crystallize into ice.
Shamim Ansary:
What Would Happen If Ocean Water Didn’t Circulate?
Convection currents circulate the enormous amount of heat stored in the ocean and churn up nutrients—such as nitrate, oxygen, and phosphate.
If the cold water from the poles did not displace the warm equatorial water, the heat within Earth would raise the temperature of the ocean floor. Sooner or later, it would be hotter than the surface temperature.
The upwelling of water from the bottom would release devastating quantities of carbon dioxide, destroying both marine and coastal life.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version