Volcanoes Essays (2385 words) - Volcanology, Plate Tectonics

Volcanoes Volcanoes JACK KNOFF WR 327 Technical Report Spring '99 Introduction In this report I plan to discuss the geological event of volcanic eruptions and the disasters they cause. To me, this is a fascinating topic and timely seeing how the 19th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens is upon us. I hope to inform people of the mass destruction that is caused by the eruption of a volcano. The scope of my report will be limited to: 1) describing what comes out of a volcano, 2) explaining the seven different types of volcanoes, 3) explaining the five types of volcanic eruptions, and 4) explaining the disasters they can cause people. The procedure for completing this report first started by watching educational television programs that featured volcanoes and the upcoming anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. From there, I decided that the topic of volcanoes would be a good subject for my analytical report. Then I began my research, first looking online for websites that contained information and pictures of volcanoes. After this, I looked for pu blications about volcanoes in the library, finding many books that pertained to my topic. Having an abundance of data, I began to sort through all of it and found what I thought to be the most informative. I then prepared an outline of the subjects I wanted to write about and arranged the data and visuals to fit my outline. And of course from there, I began to write this report using the technical writing methods taught during lecture and described in the book. Collected Data If we look through volcanoes we can view the interior of the earth. More than just lava flows are spewed out of volcanoes when they erupt. The three main components that erupt out of a volcano are: lava, ash, and bombs. When all three of these components lump together, the solid fragments are called pyroclastics. Pyroclastic rocks can be erupted in two different ways: they can be airfall deposits or pyroclastic flows. There are seven different types of volcanoes: Submarine volcanoes; Ridges and vents; Shield volcanoes; Lava plateaus and Flood basalts; Lave domes; Composite volcanoes; Cinder and Scoria cones; and Calderas. Each of these volcanoes is found in different geographical locations and have different eruptions. Along with different types of volcanoes, there are also different types of eruptions. The five eruption types are: Pelean, Vulcanian, Strombolian, Hawaiian, and Icelandic. These volcanoes have different levels of explosiveness, and their eruptions occur due to their geographic location. A volcanic hazard is destructive natural process that has a probability of reoccurring. Losses from volcanoes include: people's lives, property, livestock, and the productive capacity of the area. The factors of predicting volcanic activity are: the longer a volcano is inactive, the greater the chances are for it to become active; eruptive behavior may change with time; and some hazards are indirectly related to an eruption, making it difficult to forecast. Being informed of volcanoes in your area and knowing cautionary steps can save your life. What Comes out of Volcanoes? Volcanoes are dark windows to the interior of the Earth (Decker 104). Volcanic products are our only direct samples of the Earth's composition from deeper levels. Most people think that lava flows are the only products spewed from volcanoes, but actually volcanic ash and larger solid fragments, called cinders and blocks, form the major products of observed volcanic eruptions (Decker 104). The three components that erupt from a volcano are: lava ash, and bombs. The volcanic debris that lumps together all the sizes of solid fragments is called pyroclastics (See Figure 1). Pyroclastics come from three sources: magma that is cooled and broken into fragments by expanding gases at the moment of eruption; fragments of old crater walls which are ripped loose in explosive eruptions; and clots of liquid lava thrown into the air which cool during their flight. Pyroclastic rocks are set apart by the general size of fragments. Volcanic dust is fine; volcanic ash is gritty, with particles up to th e size of rice; cinders include pieces as big as Ping-Pong balls; and blocks cover all other fragments up to the size of a house. Volcanic bombs are block-sized clots of liquid lava thrown from erupting vents. Pyroclastic rocks can

The Invention and History of the Altimeter

The Invention and History of the Altimeter The altimeter is an instrument that measures vertical distance with respect to a reference level. It can give the altitude of the land surface above sea level or the altitude of an airplane over the ground. French physicist  Louis Paul Cailletet  invented the altimeter and the high-pressure manometer. Cailletet was the first to liquefy oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and air in 1877. He had been studying the composition of gases given off by iron in the blast furnace of his fathers ironworks. At the same time, Swiss physician Raoul-Pierre Pictet liquefied oxygen using another method. Cailletet had an interest in aeronautics, which led to developing an altimeter to measure the altitude of an airplane. Version 2.0 AKA the  Kollsman Window In 1928, a German-American inventor named Paul Kollsman changed the world of  aviation with the invention of the worlds first accurate barometric altimeter, which was also called the â€Å"Kollsman Window.† His altimeter converted barometric pressure into the distance above sea level in feet. It even allowed pilots to fly blind. Kollsman was born in Germany, where he studied civil engineering. He emigrated to the United States in 1923 and worked in New York as a truck driver for Pioneer Instruments Co. He formed the Kollsman Instrument Company in 1928 when Pioneer didnt accept his design. He had then-Lieutenant Jimmy Doolittle conduct a test flight with the altimeter in 1929 and was eventually able to sell them to the United States Navy. Kollsman sold his company to the Square D Company in 1940 for four million dollars. The Kollsman Instrument Company eventually became a division of Sun Chemical Corporation. Kollsman also went on to file hundreds of other patents, including those for converting salt water into fresh water and for a slip-resistant bathroom surface. He even owned one of the earliest ski areas in the United States, Snow Valley in Vermont. He married actress Baroness Julie Luli Deste and purchased The Enchanted Hill estate in Beverly Hills. The Radio Altimeter   Lloyd Espenschied invented the first radio altimeter in 1924.  Espenschied was a native of St. Louis, Missouri who graduated from the Pratt Institute with a degree in electrical engineering. He was interested in wireless and radio communications and worked for telephone and telegraph companies. He eventually became the director of high-frequency transmission development at Bell Telephone Laboratories.   The principle  behind how it works involves monitoring a beam of radio waves transmitted by an aircraft and their time to return as reflected from the ground to calculate altitude above the ground. The radio altimeter differs from the barometric altimeter in showing altitude above the ground below rather than above sea level. That is a critical difference for improved flight safety. In 1938, the FM radio altimeter was first demonstrated in New York by Bell Labs. In the first public display of the device, radio signals were bounced off the ground to show pilots the altitude of an aircraft. Besides the altimeter, he was also the co-creator of the coaxial cable, an important component of television and long-distance telephone service. He held over 100 patents in communications technology.