Tornado

Formation and Observation of Tornadoes/Typhoons - Science Museum Exhibits Program

What It Shows

The exhibition items simulate the motion of a tornado through interactive operations and the coordinated action of various devices in the exhibition booth. At the bottom platform of the exhibition items, there are devices such as water mist generators and water level monitors. The three columns of the exhibition items serve as both supports and side air vents. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. When prompted to participate, the audience presses the start button. When the exhibition items are activated, the water mist generator, tornado generator, etc. work simultaneously to create mist from the bottom of the device. Driven by the industrial fan and crosswind, the movement trajectory of the mist gradually forms a rotating upward trend and is finally sucked into the exhaust system. This process repeats to create a live simulation of the tornado shape seen by the audience.

Science Behind It

Tornado is the strongest vortex phenomenon in the atmosphere, which is a small but strong wind vortex that extends from the bottom of thunderstorm clouds to the ground or water surface. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. Reminder: Tornadoes often occur during thunderstorms in summer, especially in the afternoon to evening. Although their impact range is small, their destructive power is enormous.

List of Main Equipment and Materials

Main equipment: Switching power supply, lamp, axial flow fan, blower, relay, atomizer

Main materials: square tube, carbon steel plate, stainless steel, wooden board, acrylic, artificial stone

How to Take Part

Press the 'Start' button to observe the process and form of tornado formation.

form of expression

Mechanical and Electrical Interaction

Exhibition Expansion Content

What is a tornado? How do tornadoes form? Tornado is a very violent weather phenomenon, which has many aliases such as "dragon sucking water", "dragon wagging its tail", "upside down dragon", and so on.

Now we know that a tornado is a fiercely rotating circular air column, with its upper end connected to a thunderstorm cloud and its lower end suspended in mid air or extending directly to the ground or water surface, rotating and moving forward. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. The phenomenon that occurs at sea, like a "dragon sucking water", is called a "water tornado"; A tornado that appears on land, lifting dust and sweeping away houses, trees, etc., is called a 'land tornado'. From a distance, it not only looks like a giant python swaying in the air, but also like a swinging elephant trunk.

How was this big "elephant trunk" formed?

Tornadoes in nature are born in thunderstorm clouds. In thunderstorm clouds, the air disturbance is very severe, and there is a huge temperature difference between the top and bottom. On the ground, the temperature is over twenty degrees Celsius, and the higher you go, the lower the temperature. At an altitude of over 8000 meters above the top of the cumulonimbus cloud, the temperature drops to minus 30 degrees Celsius. In this way, the cold airflow above rapidly decreases, while the hot air below rises fiercely. When the updraft reaches high altitude, if it encounters strong horizontal winds, it will force the updraft to "hang upside down" (rotate downward). Due to the alternating disturbance of the upper air layer, a rotational effect is generated, forming many small eddies. These small eddies gradually expand. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. Prompt everyone to stir up and down more strongly, finally forming a large vortex. The large vortex first rotates around a horizontal axis, forming a horizontal air rotating column. Then, the two ends of this air rotating column gradually bent and hung down from the bottom of the cloud. For the direction in which cumulonimbus clouds move forward, the cloud body extending from the left is called a "left tornado", and the cloud body extending from the right is called a "right tornado"; The former rotates clockwise, while the latter rotates counterclockwise. The one that extends to the ground is usually the right tornado, and there are not many opportunities for the left tornado to extend down.

In addition, tornadoes are also prone to occur at the intersection of two squall lines. Squall lines often appear at the forefront of strong cold air during hot seasons.

When a tornado appears, there is often more than one. Sometimes two or even more "elephant trunks" - funnel cloud columns - can appear from the same cumulonimbus cloud. Some "elephant trunks" have just started to descend, while others have already grounded or are retracting into the cloud after grounding. There are also some that stretch and contract at the bottom of the cloud and never hang to the ground.

The range of tornadoes is small, with an average diameter of 200-300 meters; The smallest diameter is only a few tens of meters, and only a very small number of larger diameters reach over 1000 meters. Its lifespan is also very short, often only a few minutes to tens of minutes, at most not exceeding a few hours. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. The average moving speed is 15 meters per second, with the fastest reaching 70 meters; The length of the movement path is mostly around 10 kilometers, with some being only a few tens of meters and others reaching several hundred kilometers or more. The width of the ground where it causes damage is generally only 1-2 kilometers.

The temper of a tornado is extremely rough. Wherever it went, the roar was thunderous, as strong as a swarm of planes flying at low altitude. This may be due to some parts of the vortex having wind speeds exceeding the speed of sound, resulting in small amplitude shock waves. source factory of science museum exhibits - Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. How strong is the wind speed in a tornado? People cannot measure it yet because no anemometer can withstand its destruction. In general, wind speeds can range from 50-150 meters per second, and in extreme cases, they can even reach 300 meters per second or exceed the speed of sound.

To form a tornado, certain meteorological conditions such as temperature and humidity must be met, and a lateral cyclone is required. The science museum exhibitions "Tornadoes" produced by Shanghai Inertia Automation Co., Ltd. are based on the formation mechanism of tornadoes. They artificially create a lateral rotating airflow and use a high-power smoke generator as a demonstration carrier to simulate the formation process of tornadoes realistically.

video demonstration